As we have seen this past week, Congress has been focused on immigration issues such as DACA and the funding the border wall, and couldn’t come up with a collective agreement-leading for the government to shut down for three days. The Republicans were going to agree to improve DACA if Democrats agreed to allow funding for the border wall, and the Democrats did not want to allow the spending of $1.8 billion to build the wall over 60 miles in Texas and 14 miles across California. Yes, there is a necessity to protect our borders, but the wall won’t stop dealers, human traffickers, or immigrants from coming in.
Are you aware how many miles of fencing covers the U.S-Mexico border? It’s roughly 650 miles, which includes 352 of primary fencing, 36 secondary and 299 is vehicle barrier fencing. There’s not as much protection as our president would like. Thus, over 1,300 miles of the border are open for crossing, and Trump wants to eventually target most of it. That’s plenty of miles where “bad hombres” can cross and aren’t making America great. But will this wall stop the “bad hombres” from entering?
No señores and señoritas, it won’t stop anyone. Let me remind you that El Chapo not only escaped prison through a tunnel, but he trafficked drugs through tunnels that ran from Tijuana, Mexico to San Diego, California. Imagine how many other tunnels haven’t been discovered and will go undetected because the complete funding won’t go through.
Compared to previous years, fewer people attempted to cross the border last year. Some conservatives are definitely applauding Trump’s “bad hombre” comments and hoping for their great wall. The numbers have been decreasing over the past 10 or so years, so the journey to the U.S. isn’t the way it used to be. But going back to it, let me tell you that the wall won’t stop all the bad guys.
Advanced technologies are making these traffickers stronger. Drug dealers are relying on technology and submarines to get through larger shipments. Drones allow them to find out the best times to run through with their merchandise and back, while submarines allow tons of various drugs into our country. Also, we have seen that these traffickers are using trucks to pass drugs and people across the border, and many have succeeded. Last year, we saw that a man drove dozens of immigrants in a truck and left them abandoned in a Walmart parking lot in Texas. Imagine just how many others have gone through undetected.
Our government should consider investing more towards border control. First of all, let’s invest our money in modern technology. Just as the traffickers do, we can invest millions of dollars in drones. Drones are becoming more advanced and could easily help our border patrol cover more land. Modern-day drones have the ability of facial recognition, which can help with capturing people with previous criminal records.
Another important technology is the use of Integrated Fixed towers. Currently, only Arizona uses the towers which help to detect and track anything suspicious. It provides a Common Operating Picture, which gives data and location of the detected activities. Since Texas shares more border with Mexico, they could make use of this technology to cover larger areas of their land.
Next, we need to hire more border control and U.S. Customs agents. Our government should consider investing money on about 15,000 to 20,000 new workers to patrol and protect our borders. Also, our government should invest more in training these individuals and on their canine program. These agents should receive training on how to properly use the drones, which will be easier for the newbies. We do not need to find more innocent immigrants dead in the back of a truck; we need to ensure that no one is risking their lives and check every single truck. Drug dealers have gotten sneaky and mix in drugs in food containers, so the dogs would definitely help in these situations.
Let’s be honest, spending tens of billions of dollars on a wall won’t be effective enough. The border will need yearly maintenance, which would be billions a year. People will find other ways to smuggle drugs or people in through trucks and submarines. It’s impossible from stopping every drug dealer and human trafficker coming in but the best we can do is invest in border control.
Joseline Jimenez
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