1. We can't shut down the border between Iraq and Syria, even though that border is a fraction of the size of this one, and is inhabited mainly by hostiles. And we have thousands of troops with heavy weaponry. What makes you think this will work again?
Yet, somehow, Israel shuts down the border between Gaza & Israel. They manage to keep out folks who desperately want to get through to kill Jews. The border-crossers are willing to die in the attempt. IOW, some pretty determined border-crossers.
The 30 mile (52 kilometer) long barrier was constructed in 1994 by Israel under the leadership of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. It consists mainly of a wire fence with posts, sensors, and buffer zones. There are several crossing points in the barrier...
The barrier is augmented by an open observation area 300 meters wide on the Gaza side of the barrier. Israel claims that the barrier has been effective in preventing terrorists and suicide bombers from leaving Gaza. Since 1996, virtually all suicide bombers trying to leave Gaza have detonated their charges at the barrier's crossing points or were stopped while trying to cross the barrier elsewhere.
* During my time as Commander of Southern Command in the years 2000-2003, there were more than 400 attempts by Palestinians to cross into Israel, all of which failed.
* Together with rebuilding the fence, a key security element was the creation of a one-kilometer security buffer zone. In addition, we constructed high technology observation posts that enabled soldiers to monitor about six kilometers - day and night, and we provided the troops with new rules of engagement regarding anyone approaching this area.
* We have stopped about 30 percent of hostile actions near the fence and 70 percent inside the territory through offensive actions. In addition to the fence, we must continue to gather intelligence throughout the territories in order to be able to intercept Palestinian terrorists.
(jfruser added bold face)
The stated goal of the israeli gov't is to build a similar fence along the West Bank (681KM).
Oddly enough, this WB barrier, like the proposed barrier along the US/Meico border, was first a grassroots effort:
In June 2001 a grass roots organization called "Fence for Life - The Public Movement for The Security Fence" [4] began the grassroots effort for the construction of a continuous security fence. The movement was founded by people from all over Israel following the Dolphinarium terror attack.
The goal of the Movement, is to encourage the government to construction a Security Fence along Israel borders. "Fence for Life" urged the government to build a continuous Fence as speedily as possible, and without any connection to the political future of the areas it separates, with a goal of hermetically sealing off the Palestinian territories from Israeli population center to prevent the terrorist acts by Palestinians against the people living in Israel.
It can be done. It is being done on our Air Force bases by Force Protection. It is being done for other countries' borders with US companies as system integrators.
Physical barriers, networked sensors, commo, new concepts of operations to take advantage of the new resources, personnel, & training.
2.And how much will that cost, given the tents, armed guards,etc?
I do not have estimates, but I
can compare resources between the USA & Israel. Israel is already building the WB barrier & plans to complete it. How might they afford it?
*Barrier Length (KM)*
US/Mexico Border: 3141.0
West Bank Barrier Length (Proposed): 681.0
Ratio: 4.6
*Population*
US Population: 298444215
Israeli Population: 6352117
Ratio: 47.0
*GDP ($ billions)*
US 12470.0
Israeli 121.2
Ratio: 102.9
The barrier we would build would be 4.6 times longer than the WB barrier. I think we just may be able to scrape up the cash, considering we have
47 times the population of Israel and
our economy is 103 times larger than Israel's.
As with Israel, it is a matter of will, not wallet.
Oh, security is also one of the duties of our gov't. COTUS grants fed.gov the authority.
3. And how many agents will need to be hired to police the tens of thousands of employers out there? And if you make it tough, guess what? Employers will not decide to hire only legals--they will decide to do something else and there goes all those jobs, even the ones enjoyed by legals.
I do not have estimates of the number of agents. Heck, first I would hire some skilled database folks to work the IRS and Soc Sec Admin databases to get at the low hanging fruit of SSN/TIN mismatches.
I fully expect employers to react to the new reality. Some will invest in more capital to make the more expensive labor more productive, some will muddle through, & some will go out of whatever labor-intensive business they currenlty run.
Products & services heavily dependant on illegal alien labor will see an initial rise in cost/price, but not as much as you'd think due to capital investments, innovation, and tapping currently underutilized labor.
Remember, it is already illegal to hire illegal aliens.
4. Enforcement costs and costs to deport will be borne by whom exactly? I propose a surtax on Texans of $1k a piece. It's their fault.
Border enforcement is a job for fed.gov. The same taxpayers who pay for mohair subsidies and yet another bridge named after Sen Roert Byrd will bear the costs.
$1000 for the implementation of all my proposed measures? Cool deal! I'd likely break even in 5-10 years, given my current location and property tax burden, after all the work for illegals dries up, we clamp down on newcomers, and those currently in the US go back home, willingly or otherwise.
BTW, Texas is now part of the USA, so fed.gov is responsible for border security.
So in fact those jobs that are "saved" for true-blue Americans will not go to legals at all. They will go overseas or stop altogether.
Outsourcing vs Illegal Alien Labor:
I and other taxpayers don't have to pay for the health care of Chinese prison-camp labor. If they have a child, that child does not become a US citizen with even stronger claims to the US welfare state. Also, we don't have to educate that kid. If that is the choice, outsource it, baby!
Some subset of jobs currently done by illegals will remain. To make it profitable, however, employers who formerly humped their neighbors for labor subsidies will have to change their business model...or go do something more productive and less parasitic.
Sources for quotations & figures:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.htmlhttp://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/is.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_West_Bank_barrierhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_Gaza_Strip_barrierhttp://www.answers.com/topic/united-states-mexico-borderhttp://www.jcpa.org/brief/brief004-12.htm--------------------
Jobs Americans Won't DoWhat a slimey and dishonest article. As is usual, it tries to conflate illegal aliens with legal immigrants and residents.
Our answer is that a closed economy ultimately would make America a less competitive and hence poorer country--because we'd have less human capital, and because we'd be using the human resources we did have less efficiently. Among higher-skilled and -educated workers, pulling away the U.S. welcome mat means all of that talent would go to work creating wealth and jobs in other countries.
1. Having secure borders != closed economy
2. All human capital is not of equal economic value
3. In the absence of super-cheap labor, capital investment in produtivity-increasing devices, etc increases. We cripple ourselves vis-a-vis innovation by relying on low-skilled labor.
4. We will continue to brain-drain the rest of the world by creaming their best & bightest who we will let come
on our terms.How did we ever manage to get the crops in or mow our lawns before the inlux of illegal aliens?