Border Fence to cost $6.5B over 20 Years

A surprise donation from a strip club willkeep bats cracking for a financially-strapped Little League in Los Angeles County. / CBS/iStockphoto

U.S. government investigators say it will cost taxpayers $6.5 billion over the next 20 years to maintain the Mexican border fence.

But as the Obama administration realizes the long-term costs of the border fence, it does not have a way to evaluate whether this investment has helped control illegal entries into the U.S, the Government Accountability Office says in a new report.

The $6.5 billion price tag is in addition to the $2.4 billion that has already been spent to build fence segments along the U.S.-Mexico border. The fence is a Bush administration initiative that has faced several delays and cost increases.

The technology portion of the government's plan to secure the border continues to be delayed, the GAO report says.

[GTR5]

Planting land mines along the border would be a lot cheaper and be more effective.

[diamruby]

The fence should be a prison style with plenty of electricity flowing at all times. All employers having illegals working for them should be fined big time & then monitered, if they do it again shut them down. The only reason they hire them is because they can work them for nothing
24-7's, house them in inhuman conditions, no benefits, but all of their workers get free medical, food etc using government services that we pay for. I know alot of them want a better life but from what I have seen they bring their crime with them & live exactly as they would back home.

[koko98-2009]

If the Berlin Wall taught us anything it was that walls are better at keeping people in than keeping people out. A wall would ONLY work if it was controlled by the Mexicans. Fat chance that's going to happen.
What a waste!!!

[timdgrim]

6.5 Billion? What is that? 6 months financing of the illegal war in Iraq. Sounds like a bargain.

[heresmy2cent]

Why can't the gov't use prison trustees to install and maintain this fence?

Doesn't anyone in the government have a clue how to save money?

[6591Hou]

Of course they can't measure whether or not it works - they haven't done it yet. It's also more than just drugs folks, it's human slave traffic as well that's coming across the current non-border.

National ID? Are you serious? There's a flea-market not far from here that's well known locally for it's ability to sell fake Social Security cards and driver's licenses. There's not an ID made that can't eventually be faked.

The border needs to be made real, something more substantial than a fence.

[Marc_1986]

Not saying it ever couldn't; however, how come you don't see Mexicans just printing off $100 bills instead of coming over here to work? If they can fake an ID they can fake US superbills right?

[stuart-johns]

No Mark. Making counterfit money is just a little more complicated than fake i.d.'s.

[vuenbelvue]

I was talking to a Russian a few years ago. A legal immigrant who was a loan officer at the bank. He said when he grew up he was conscripted like all the other young men for military duty and served on the border with China. He said his orders were to fire two shots. One was a warning shot the other was to stop the intruder. He said no one ever crossed the border.

[Marc_1986]

I believe, securing our border is the most important thing we can possibly do. It helps protect us from terrorists, helps keep illegals out of the country, and keeps American taxpayer dollars from going to help subsidize illegal aliens. Illegal aliens are going to get into the US no matter how defensive you are; but you CAN limit the amount that do. The problem is that once inside, it is often times VERY hard to tell them apart from legal Mexicans and others born in the US. My plan:

#1 - Come up with a national identification program, that requires all citizens to register for. These documents should also be impossible or nearly impossible to fake. This way we won't have any black market for illegal documents and forms of identification, and we'll have a much quicker way to identify illegals.

#2 - Grant all amnesty to all illegals currently in the US who want it. Give them a time frame (6 mos - 1 year) to apply for the new identification and become a legal US citizen. This way we get all these aliens 'on the books' and paying taxes, just like everyone else.

#3 - Set up better guest worker programs for those who do not want to be a US citizen, but want to come in during certain months (fruit picking season) to work. Having unfakable (or nearly unfakable)documents will help determine who is a citizen, who is a guest worker, and who is an illegal.

#4 - Make employers responsible for hiring illegal workers now that there is an unfakable (or nearly unfakable) identification system. Odds are employers will counter this by placing a 'tax' on the illegal worker (lowering the wage to offset risk of getting caught). Make repeat offenders subject to heavier fines.

#5 - Step up regulation of businesses in high-risk areas for illegal unemployment. Its amazing what can be done with the internet. Soon it'll be medical documents online, why can't we do something similar with citizenship?

#6 - Now that we've cut down on illegals, and have everyone inside the US paying taxes, it'll make it easier to fix things like healthcare, Gov't programs like SS and Medicare, etc.

Obviously you're never going to be 'illegal proof', but this would certainly be a HUGE step in the right direction. It'll also put up another defense against potential terrorists.

[Marc_1986]

@underdogus

You do the exact same thing now?! I don't see what the big problem is, or did you not go to the DMV to get your license? Do you have a passport? These are all things that citizens tend to get.

[BlandNancy]

The Federal Government could also take a huge step in the right direction by enforcing it's existing immigration laws, and passing
new laws as needed. It should be a felony to enter and stay in this country illegally, and no more "Anchor Babies" for women who have entered the U. S. illegally.
All the border fence is doing right now is keeping honest people from illegally entering and leaving this country.
Granted, no measure can keep everyone out who enters this country illegally, but the U. S. can make it very difficult for those who do.

[stn_sage]

Ridiculous! It only takes 6.5 billion dollars to do this because contractors tell the politicians it takes this much---the politicians don't know!

And, the contractors are 'padding the books'. It can be built for a LOT less than that!

The politicians in D.C. are committed to WASTEFUL SPENDING of monies!

We should scale back govt; abolish the Senate and erect term limits for the House and Supreme Court members!

[DaVicar6]

I was at Walmart in the garden section yesterday and they had border fence for $1.59 a foot.
Where are these people shopping for fence?