Would a Border Fence Solve the Immigration Problem in the United States?

Immigration is a major socioeconomic problem in the Western world. However, no country is the issue of immigration is such a hot potato than the US. One area that has attracted public debate and policymakers is the building of a border wall along America's Southern border to prevent crossings from various parts of South and Central America where their citizens are experiencing different challenges that motivate them to leave their home countries for the US. The talk of preventing illegal immigration through the porous borders generates a lot of emotions and controversies as seen in the recent government shutdown over border wall funding. But the big question that many ask is: can the border wall solve the problem. A careful look at the issue suggests that, although the border wall would prevent a significant number of immigrants from entering the country, it cannot offer a definitive solution to the immigration in the United States.

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Building a wall along the US-Mexico border has the potential to solve the problem of immigration. Those who hold this view suggest that a border wall along the Southern border would create a buffer zone by acting as a physical barrier to the people attempting to cross the border into the United States. One-third of the undocumented immigrants enter the US through the Southern border (Smith). For this reason, building a long barrier would prevent entry through the land. It is also expected that the physical barrier would enable security agencies conducting patrols along the border to effectively carry out their duties as the presence of the wall would require a smaller amount of resources for implement strategies that seek to prevent illegal entrants. Increased surveillance on the border and the physical barrier are anticipated to not only physically prevent people from crossing but also deter those who aspire to enter the US for fear of the possibility of failure due to arrests and deportations. Whereas this strategy appears to yield practical results, it fails to answer some of the most critical questions about the whole immigration issue.

One challenge with the proposal of the wall as a panacea to the problem of immigration is that a majority of illegal immigrants enter the United States through the Mexican-American border. According to data provided by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the majority of illegal immigrants enter the United States from the air. They come through legal means, land on American airports, but overstay their visas. The department estimates that of the 45 million people who entered the US on visit /tourist visas that were meant to expire in 2015, 415, 000 were still living in the United States by the end of 2016(Dear). In the year ending September 2017, evidence shows that around 700,000 foreigners were still living in the country, 12 months since their visas expired. At the same time, records show that immigration through Mexican border hit a record 12-year in 2016(Smith; Dartmouth College). Although there has been a recent increase of immigrants across the border, the provided data shows that the avenue through which immigrants enter the country is by misuse of the country's legal immigration system. Therefore, building the wall would still allow a massive room for immigrants to enter the country.

Another issue that affects American people which the border would not solve is security. Closing the border would pose more problems to security agencies as people would look for smarter ways to beat the system and smuggle immigrants and goods. In current border fence, for instance, cartels outsmart check-points and carry weapon parts into Mexico where they are assembled (Dear). Recent reports show that the heavy surveillance of modern technology does not prevent the smuggling of people and contraband goods. Immigrants entering the Southern border have been described as criminals and terrorists. However, this does not protect the country against terrorists who have posed a serious threat to the security of this nation. For example, of 154 foreign-born people who carried terrorist attacks on U.S. soil since 1975 to2015, only 1 was Mexican (Dear). Even if the justification is based on drug trafficking, the evidence is clear that the threat to the country comes from either within. That is, people who are born in the US or those that enter illegally are the people that the policymakers should give priority. Thus, the wall does not offer a solution to the immigration issue.

Having examined the cost of building the border wall on the US-Mexican border, it is worth concluding that the idea of erecting the wall would not solve the problem of immigrating facing America. One of the reasons for this position is that the larger share of immigrants come to America through legal means and overstays their visas. The other point for taking this position is that the border, described as the source of criminals and drug smugglers, will not solve the significant concern of the country-security because the terrorists and gunmen who killed many Americans for years either come illegally or American-born. Although the border has the potential to reduce illegal entry from Mexico, it does not offer a concrete answer to immigration.

Works Cited

Dartmouth College. "Study on Economic Impact of Border Wall Finds High Costs and Few Benefits to US." Phys.org - News and Articles on Science and Technology, 2018, phys.org/news/2018-11-economic-impact-border-wall-high.html.

Dear, Michael. "5 Problems 'the Wall' Won't Solve." POLITICO Magazine, 28 Feb. 2017, www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/02/trump-wall-mexico-problems-immigration-214837.

Smith, Kate. "Trump's Border Wall Would Stop Less Than Half of Illegal Immigration in the U.S." CBSNews, 3 Jan. 2019, www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-border-wall-only-stop-one-third-of-illegal-immigration-migrants-fact-check-claim-review/.