The border wall is in the national security interests of both the US and Mexico. The wall is more than just a physical barrier. It will incorporate active and passive security measures.
This includes increased surveillance of the border. This also includes seismic monitoring of the area along the wall. This aids border patrol in observing the activity near the US border as well as detecting tunneling operations.
Similar types of technology are used by US military in combat zones to monitor perimeter walls of forward operating bases. This greatly enhances security by allowing technology to augment personnel assigned to observes the areas beyond the perimeter to include active patrolling.
The costs of the wall can be paid for through a simple crossing fee of $5 per vehicle which would not add any significant costs to goods crossing the border. There are roughly 1,000,000 border crossings per day. That would be $5,000,000/day in collections. About $1.85B/year.
The border wall, with its enhanced security measures, would reduce drug trafficking significantly over the next five years. This would benefit both the US & Mexico. The greater enforcement along the border reduces drug cartel revenues decreasing their militant capabilities.
The amount of money spent on drug enforcement in both US and Mexican cities is enormous. This includes policing and medical treatment for drug related violence and addiction.
Weakened drug cartels would greatly assist the Mexican military in its own war on drugs. The reduced revenues would decrease the ability of cartels to pay its near military capable personnel. The Zetas for example originated as an enforcement cadre for the Gulf Cartel.
The Mexican government has spent more on fighting drug cartels within its own borders than the costs of the wall over the past decade. It has also paid a very high price in lives lost since 2006 in the tens of thousands.
Reducing the influence of drug cartels greatly benefits Mexico as well as the US. Over the next decade it would reduce the long term costs of internal conflict in Mexico by .5 to 1 billion annually. This could result in reinvestment in Mexican communities and education.
The costs of the border wall is minimal compared to the costs in lives lost and money spent on fighting cartels not to mention reducing the desire of people to flee from their homelands to uncertainty in a foreign country.
Numerous people that make the trek from Latin America to the US are subjected to varying degrees of human trafficking with some being forced into near slave conditions and others ending up dead. If less money was spent on fighting cartels money could be used for other reasons.
Those that claim border walls/fences don't work are wrong. The Yuma sector which had a barrier emplaced has drastically reduced border crossings in the area. This barrier doesn't have the compliment of measures Trump proposes for the wall. usatoday.com/story/opinion/…
A simple barrier does not work as well as the type of barrier proposed by Trump with critically needed technology to detect intrusions, particularly tunneling. At least two tunnels have been found with functional elevators. nypost.com/2016/04/20/dru…
This is why Trump wants the border wall to include the active and passive security measures along with increased agents. This allows flexibility to move to interdict drugs attempting to cross the border or to detain others illegally crossing the border.
Drug cartels have also been working with Iranian backed organizations such as Hezbollah for years. These groups run not only drugs but also guns on both sides of the border. This is another reason the wall is in our national security interests. foreignpolicy.com/2011/10/12/why…
