Tell you a true story. Spent 11 years chasing illegals in S Texas with different groups. One of my buds and I were on a 20+ thousand acre ranch that we had not be on in almost 4 months when we ran across these signs on fence posts pointing with wording in 4 different languages, saying Follow arrows for help. So we cruised on over there on our 4wheelers. Low and behold there was this behemoth of a beacon device out of 6' square tubing with blue beacon and transponder on top, battery powered solar panels, the whole nine yards. On the control panel in the four languages was a mushroom push button. PUSH FOR HELP. Well we were pissed. We drove around this thing then headed off to some tall dunes to setup shop.
About 45 minutes here come BP in vehicle and we recognized the two boots, flag them down and start talking. Sure enough they were responding to the beacon. Damn thing had ground sensors. Come to find out from them that the material for these WAS supposed to build the fence back when the first bill passed and the fence was supposed to be being built but instead they were building these sensors.
Now do you think all of that 3.5M/mi is building fences?
Kelly will never allow troops to protect the border. Trump floated it and Kelly immediately shot it down. Don’t get excited this is replacing existing wall not one inch of new wall. NM is about gone focus on AZ and Texas while there’s still time.
Yeah, one president will use force at the border and the next one won’t. With a wall, it is an obstacle that will be there for the next president.
“It would cost a lot less to train the military on the border and keep them primed for a southern invasion.”
Each approach has is pros and cons.
The kind of barrier they are looking to build now (30 foot tall bollards) costs a lot the year you put it in, but very little after that. Using more people, has costs far into the future, including retirement and disability payments.
Military units are budgeted into the various operational plans that the Pentagon develops. For example, if a land war breaks out in Korea, specific units, by name, are designated specific roles. If you want to task that unit with something else (like moving to the border, and assuming a guard mission), then you have to explicitly plan and resource to replace them, or backfill them with another limited resource when they do deploy.
Every year, during the budget drill, the Iron Majors in the Pentagon burn the midnight oil on endless “what if” drills, juggling the many variables to allocate resources. There is no free lunch - units that are not operationally justified (essential) have long since been squeezed out of existence.
It is in fact very expensive to develop and maintain military units, and it lessens their proficiency/combat effectiveness if you have them doing different missions (like border guard) for a long time.
In the short term, an active duty military unit can quickly bring a lot of capability to bear, but if it is going to be long term, you have to deliberately develop dedicated force structure to support the mission. Border Patrol is specialized in their task, without the competing pull of a combat mission. They are inherently better suited in that respect.
If we did pay the premium to develop active duty military units for border guard, there would be the added benefit of having their broader capability to potentially use them temporarily for other contingencies, like natural disasters, civil unrest or reinforcing a major war.
Bottom line: There is no free lunch, to use military units for border security long term. When you add all the lifecycle costs, they are actually quite expensive, per person.
Bollard style barrier on the other hand, is cheap to maintain, and allows the Border Patrol to channel the threat and concentrate their personnel, making them able to be more effective per person. Lots of people are tempted to hop the fence, because it looks (is) so easy. Eighteen foot bollards effectively deterred a great percentage of crossers where they were installed. Thirty foot bollards will deter all but the most fit and daring - almost everyone.
In the end, the most efficient use of resources to effectively control the border is a mix of personnel, equipment, technology, and infrastructure (barrier, roads, lighting and sensors).
Another option to reinforce the Border Patrol, could be the use of civilian contractors, like security guards as lookouts, or one of those companies that monitor home security systems - the kinds of support services that don’t require carrying a gun or laying hands on prisoners.