Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Editorial: Immigration absurdity survives the election
Virgil Goode's proposed 2,000-mile border fence won't solve genuine immigration challenges.
From the RoundTable blog
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The anti-immigration hysteria that was largely a loser leading up to last week's Virginia election has returned to Washington for another round of nativism.
U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Rocky Mount, whose 5th District covers most of south-central Virginia, has teamed with Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., crafting a bill to build a 2,000-mile fence along the border between the United States and Mexico. They claim a barrier stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico would curtail illegal crossings.
America clearly has issues to work out with immigration, but fencing off one of the nation's closest allies and trading partners is no solution.
The expense alone would be obscene: an estimated $5 billion to $7 billion just to construct the fence, assuming it is not awarded as a sweetheart, no-bid contract. After the initial investment, the federal government would have to dedicate millions annually for maintenance and staffing, including 10,000 new border patrol officers and 1,250 immigration investigators called for in the bill.
The U.S. could better spend that money beefing up existing border security measures and helping Mexico and other nations develop solid economies that can provide living-wage jobs to their citizens so that they have less incentive to sneak into America. That, and enforcing U.S. law against hiring undocumented aliens.
Ultimately, a fence would only cause more tragedy among those who attempt to cross. Tunnels would soon pass beneath the fence, and packed boats would go around it. Other illegal immigrants would turn to human smuggling through checkpoints. Those routes are all more dangerous, and people who deal with human smugglers often find themselves near slaves when they arrive.
Illegal immigration is a complicated challenge that will require effective law enforcement and cooperation with governments to the south, not throwing up a wall.
If building Fortress America replaces enforcing U.S. law, Americans someday could see a Central American leader at the border saying, "Mr. President, tear down this fence."
