Illinois’ newest Congressman, Darin LaHood, has argued that
the U.S. must put more resources into securing the borders to stop the flow of
immigrants coming in illegally. Really? More? Between 2000 and 2010, U.S.
taxpayers spent something like $90 billion trying to secure the U.S.-Mexico
border — National Guard troops , border agents, X-ray machines, fences,
drug-sniffing dogs, predator drones. The whole thing isn’t fenced yet, but
fences don’t even keep metal
thieves out of construction sites, and the U.S.-Mexico border is 1,900
miles long. Ever drive down to Orlando with the kids? Nineteen-hundred
miles is almost twice that far. We’d get more national security for the buck by
building a wall around lower Manhattan to protect the rest of the country from
Wall Streeters.
A far more effective barrier against unauthorized immigrants
would be made of paper. We have drones and guns
galore to enforce entry rules, but no system to track those who don’t go back
hom after entering the country via our airports on short-term tourist or
educational visas. No one is certain how many of our undocumented immigrants
got in that way, but most experts think it’s between a third and a half of all undocumenteds.
Sadly, tracking them
would require more government employees, who are even a graver threat to
America than immigrants. Aren’t they?
This article appears in Sep 17-23, 2015.
