Actually, the main problem is that the “illegal immigrants” that everyone talks about are hardly all coming trekking across the border through illegal, back doors.
A very large percentage actually arrive here “legally” through visas for business and travel and stay.
That should have been his point. So, when you are trying to compare the cost of a fence to the cost of educating, caring for, etc “illegals” you have to actually know how much the fence is going to impact the number of “illegals” using public services. My quick, back of the envelope figures say “not as much as you wish.” Not enough to make that fence viable and worthwhile.
You want this guy to present you with a “solution”? That’s not his job. he’s writing an opinion, not making policy. However, the one policy that had some worth to it, that provided legal means of entry and exit, insured a decent labor base and didn’t smack of a really bad political move was nixed by the “security at any cost” crowd and we were left with nothing but a giant diplomatic headache.
Yes, building a fence and comparing Mexico and the US with the Israel/Palestinian terrorist problem has very bad diplomatic overtones – Mexico is not a terrorist state, we are not at war with the state of Mexico even if it has a bunch of nasty criminals who like to shoot up our border.
