II. DO BORDER WALLS WORK? If not, why are 65 countries building them?
Currently, politicians are arguing over a project that initially needs about six billion dollars. This is about .08 of a percent of the U.S. budget. That is not a large percentage of spending for upgrading access denial that would save money in the long term as well as improve security. It is not enough to seal the border but it will allow the denial of access of many to areas between and near ports of entry (POEs). That allows better use of limited human resources and would actually save the lives of those who cross into hostile areas.
I have often heard the argument that walls don’t work as they can be tunneled under or simply flown over, or just take the water route in an end run. Tunneling under borders has occurred for centuries. Now there is more sophisticated equipment to detect tunneling, water routes are patrolled with more sophisticated radars and aircraft, and the use of these routes have subsided significantly.
The wall/fences work by funneling people to POEs that are located in border population centers. At these points, those who cross are exposed to the most effective detection equipment that has proven effective intercepting large quantities of drugs, usually hidden in vehicles. These are usually under some control of Drug Cartels.
In the less populated areas, there are some older fences that may stop vehicular traffic but not people on foot. We have no firm figure on how many do this, only numbers of those caught. As more states legalize substances such as Marijuana, traffickers have moved into stronger man-made drugs such as fentanyl and into human trafficking.
What is not generally known is that there are several hundred miles of our southern border without physical barriers. Simply a cattle-type fence and occasional signs to warn people of the border and possible smuggling are common. Friends living in the area have stated the situation in Cochise County has improved greatly in recent months.
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The Huachuca Mountains allow access from Mexico right into Fort Huachuca and national forest lands. It is difficult terrain and not many choose this route. Other areas of the border are in the desert land, a harsh environment that has claimed many lives from exposure, thirst, and hunger.
The NGO Border Angels estimate that since 1994, about 10,000 people have died in their attempt to cross the border.[3] According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 7,216 people have died crossing the U.S–Mexico border between 1998 and 2017, mostly from exposure dehydration and hyperthermia.
I have not heard this large number of migrant deaths discussed in current arguments. I do know that many of these lives could have been spared if we had adequate border fencing and wall to keep migrants from crossing into environmentally hostile areas.
I would like to present some information into what a large number of countries feel about border security.
65 countries of the world have erected some form of border security barriers. Several countries have erected more than one. They must find some value in spending money on walls and fences
As a former intelligence and security guy, I worry more than a little about the facts that smuggling drugs and migrants can also smuggle terrorists (and has) and that the Coyote/Crime Cartel operations are two way. A Fast and Furious gun showed up in Morocco. At the present time, Latin America is the most violent area of the world. It suffers 33% of the world’s homicides despite having only 8% of its population. One-quarter of all global homicides are concentrated in four countries – Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela. In Latin America, one-third of the people have been victims of violent crime and in Mexico, over one half of the population has suffered a violent crime within a family. Many of the current migrants are victims of crime or are trying to avoid it but there are also convicted criminals in their homeland who feel they can do better in the U.S. with a fresh start.
There really is a need for some type of immigration reform that is aimed at stopping these repeat offenders – something to separate them from those not committed to a life of crime or members of a cartel or gang.
Although border walls have been effective at some points in the U.S., more than half the border is open. These areas are mostly in desert-like conditions and many deaths have occurred from exposure. In Europe, where walls have been built to keep out mass migrations, groups have taken to the sea to cross borders and this also results in deaths by drowning. The obvious path is to reduce the magnetism that sparks mass migrations. But the problem in the U.S. is much more than migrations. It involves Transnational Organized Crime and all its bad effects on our society. There are other downsides as well but these are up to our elected officials to come up with legislative reform that most people can live with. They seem unwilling or not up to the task.
Not all border walls have been called successful. The Great Wall of China of 13,000 miles was never one wall but many built by kingdoms to prevent nomadic tribe raids it helped to control movements and control commerce, collect taxes and control movements. It is now producing revenue from tourism. Not unlike the European experiences with walled cities as tourist sites. When people moved from city-states to countries with borders agreed to by others, the walls became unnecessary. However after 9/11, and ease of movement around the globe, many countries began rethinking security with new walls along international boundaries...
In the U.S., the first border upgrades of any significance were under Operation Gatekeeper. It came into play during the Clinton administration in 1994 and built just less than 6 miles of strong fencing and other measures between San Diego and Tijuana.
The measure carried out by the U.S. Border Patrol of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)), was aimed at halting illegal immigration to the United States at the United States–Mexico border near San Diego, California.[1] According to the INS, the goal of Gatekeeper was "to restore integrity and safety to the nation's busiest border." Congress approved the money for implementation.
By 1997, the budget of the Immigration and Naturalization Service had doubled to 800 million dollars, the number of Border Patrol agents had nearly doubled, the amount of fencing or other barriers more than doubled, and the number of underground sensors nearly tripled. In a later phase, biometric identification was added.
The merits of Operation Gatekeeper were debated extensively, including during Congressional hearings. The Department of Justice, the INS, and the Border Patrol maintained that Operation Gatekeeper was a success. Some Congressmen and others sharply criticized the program.
In May 1995, the Border Patrol initiated Operation Disruption to target human smugglers, and also established new checkpoints on interior highways and apprehensions increased. The first Immigration Court was set up at the San Ysidro POE that expedited Immigration Court hearings, deportations of those with or with false documents.
Phase two also introduced IDENT, an automated biometric identification system, to facilitate identification of repeat offenders and "criminal aliens", i.e., illegal immigrants with criminal records or active warrants for their arrest.
The tighter controls at the busy checkpoint sent illegals to passage over the Otay Mountains to the east that did not have upgraded border walls. The death rate climbed.
A more extensive wall/fence system might have prevented many immigrant deaths.
To operate our border security measures, we have the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a part of the Department of Homeland Security.
CBP Mission from their website.
“CBP’s top priority is to keep terrorists and their weapons from entering the U.S. while welcoming all legitimate travelers and commerce. CBP officers and agents enforce all applicable U.S. laws, including illegal immigration, narcotics smuggling, and illegal importation. CBP deploys highly trained law enforcement personnel who apprehend more than 1,000 individuals each day for suspected violations of U.S. laws.
CBP's border security mission is led at ports of entry by CBP officers from the Office of Field Operations, along with U.S. borders by agents from the United States Border Patrol and from the air and sea by agents from Air and Marine Operations. Also at ports of entry, agriculture specialists are deployed to protect U.S. agriculture from the introduction of pests or disease from overseas sources.”
Saving Lives
CBP and other agencies are also involved in saving lives. This is not often covered in the news. The demographics of our border agents are interesting. About 52% of the operating force is of Hispanic descent and a large number of them had parents who were recent legal immigrants but most are from families that have been present for generations. They do what they can to save lives. U.S. Border Patrol reported that 3,221 migrants were rescued in the fiscal year 2017.[4] (Wikipedia)
Migrant deaths along the Mexico–U.S. border
The sadder statistics around are the many deaths that occur as people find weak spots in border security, cross the border illegally, and enter hostile environments.
The US Border Patrol reported 294 migrant deaths in the fiscal year 2017 (ending September 30, 2017), which was lower than in 2016 (322), and any year during the period 2003-2014. Exposure (including heat stroke, dehydration, and hyperthermia) were the leading cause of these deaths.[2]
The group Border Angels estimates that since 1994, about 10,000 people have died in their attempt to cross the border...[3] According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 7,216 people have died crossing the U.S–Mexico border between 1998 and 2017.[4] In 2005, more than 500 died across the entire U.S.–Mexico border.[5] The number of yearly border crossing deaths doubled from 1995 to 2005, before declining.[6] The statistics reflect only known deaths and do not include those who have never been found.[7]
Mexico's Secretariat of Foreign Affairs has compiled data including deaths on the Mexican side of the border area during the period from 1994 to 2000. The data shows 87 deaths in 1996, 149 in 1997, 329 in 1998, 358 in 1999, and 499 in 2000
Two examples of successful border walls (although controversial) include:
The first is from Israel. The graph clearly depicts the effectiveness of their border
More details can be found at:
The U.S. Senate report is worth reading for those with an interest in security in general. It also contains information on Aviation Security, Cybersecurity, POE operations,
A Slate magazine article basically states the fences work. The Israeli fence is very efficient. The number of fatalities from terror attacks within Israel dropped from more than 130
The second is from Hungary. The country reduced illegal immigrants from entering by 99%,
Hungary decided to move against the EU open borders policy in that they discovered that many of the illegal immigrants were not simply fleeing war. The country had a spike in criminality and terrorist attacks. They decided to build a wall at its border with Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia while refusing to take in its Brussels-imposed “quota” of immigrants.
This wall apparently does its job. Illegal immigration collapsed from just under 400,000 in 2015 to less than 20,000 in 2016 and only 1184 in 2017. Most of those were from Romania. Statistics were from Hungary’s Chief Security Advisor Gyorgy Bakondi.
The advisor further stated that the system of technical barriers is the key to the success of border security.
Without it, illegal immigration would be impossible to stop the mass arrival of immigrants” https://www.theissue.com/politics/hungarys-border-wall-reduced-illegal-immigration-by-99-percent.
A current estimate is that about one-third of our border with Mexico has some form of working wall or barrier fence. About half of that needs major upgrading. Existing walls have been successful at funneling border crossers to Points of Entry (POE) control points to use some new and sophisticated equipment to make some rather large drug and human interceptions. Some correctly state that POEs are where most drugs enter the U.S. This is the preferred method used by Cartels as more can be carried in a vehicle than on foot. But there are many people crossing weak border areas with packs on their backs containing drugs. The border patrol believes they only catch 10-15% of illegal border crossers. But in reality, we have only estimates as to how many people and drugs cross into the U.S. from Mexico. What is interesting is that in some areas, more illegals are apprehended at highway checkpoints some miles to the interior of the U.S. than directly at the border. These were started with Operation Gatekeeper.
There are other reports and statistics that provide answers to the question: DO BORDER WALLS WORK? They do work. Some work very well, others like the U.S.-Mexico Border Wall/Fence are only partially adequate. Border Patrol agents need a physical barrier that provides a containment function to keep the flood of illegal aliens at bay. This enables the agents to focus on highly risky locations and apprehend enough border-crossers to not lose the battle altogether.
the defense against critters and aggressors? Fortifications often included entire cities as can be seen today throughout Europe. Early settlers in the U.S. had as priority #1, Water and #2, building a wall or fort as there were folks out there who didn’t want them there. Now, border walls are primarily used to prevent smuggling. People, drugs, weapons, and most recently, mass migrations.
In the Indus Valley village of Kot Jiji, there are walls from 3500 B, C, E, At the West Bank town of Jericho, one can see remnants of an extensive wall from the 8th Millennium B.C.E. There apparently were few politicians in those days that fought over a need for defenses. In the days of City-States, castles and walled cities were used for centuries. But when firm borders were established for countries and recognized by others,, they were no longer needed. So the walls we see under construction around the world are fairly new phenomena in response to mass migrations and TOC.
Lou
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