They need to put back up the Bush Era surveilance cameras that Obama took down saying that they didn't work because they couldn't distinguish wild animals from people. They need to figure out how to make that work. It can't be that hard.
Then they need to add drones. A scaneagle only costs $100,000. It only has surveilance cameras and no missles. 600 drones, 3 for every 10 miles, would cost $60,000,000. (My guess is you don't need that many.
The cost of a border fence has been estimated at $49 billion. Border Fence costs My guess is that you can do it much cheaper than that.
Add some electic currents to the fence to tell when it's been cut. A technique easily defeated by those who are aware of it, but it gives you more time to spot them with the drones.
Then station border patrols every 10 miles. That would be 200 border patrols. If you man Each with 5 shifts (3 weekday, 2 weekend), 5 officers each, you'd need 200x5x5 = 5000 agents. That's $200,000,000, freeing up $600,000,000 to pay for all of the above.
And you'd have 5 officers within 5 miles of any given border point and 10 officers within 10 miles of any given border point. 25 officers within 20 miles of any given border point.
“They need to put back up the Bush Era surveilance cameras that Obama took down saying that they didn’t work because they couldn’t distinguish wild animals from people. They need to figure out how to make that work. It can’t be that hard. “
Bush-era systems are a suite of sensors, too include MSS trucks. The program you are thinking of was awarded during Bush’s time but never fielded before he left office.
Currently, the BP have cameras and other surveillance technologies. You are talking about the electronic “fence” that was made up of permanently placed towers that had various sensors, and these towers were to link all their sensors to provide a common picture that could be operated centrally. This program was cancelled by Nappy-Pants. Boeing had the contract and the project was developing and becoming viable. . .to include refining the sensor to determine animal from man (and yes, that is VERY hard to do.)
“Then they need to add drones.”
They have a fleet of Predators they use along the border.
Scan-Eagles do not have the loiter time or range necessary to fly the mission, and Scan-Eagles can’t carry the packages the Predators use. . . .those sensors are far more capable with “longer” and more detailed eyes than what a Scan-Eagle can carry.