Border Fence (Mexican Border), Pro or Con?

If you look at my profile and my "BIG issues" you'll see that I support a border fence, but only so long as it is a part of a larger immigration reform, and that I don't support the fence as a stand alone solution.

I will first argue PRO's points then present my own.

"1. Physically the fence/wall would need to cover 1,951 miles/3,141 km of territory including cities and deserts. A wall of this length would require an enormous amount of effort and funds to build that could be used in a much better manner."

There is currently 10% unemployment in this country [1]. So there is a large labor force that is looking for work to do that we can use to help build this. And they will be happy to have work and be making money so that they can feed their families. Now this might be their ideal jobs, of course, but to many, it will be better then nothing.

"2. There are already barriers in the zones containing the largest concentration of illegal immigration and it would be a waste to continue such a project across inhospitable terrain like the Sonoran desert which already poses a serious deterrent (50 miles of inhospitable terrain, tragically many migrants attempt to cross the border through the Sonoran desert resulting in thousands of deaths)."

A wall will on add to the protection. 50 miles of desert is not that difficult to one with a vehicle that has 4x4. A wall will stop the vehicle and may also stop some of the wasted attempts that ends live (though still waiting on a source for that other then wiki).

"3. Is illegal immigration such an issue that the United States must undertake such a ridiculous feat to gain better chances at stopping it? I do not believe that the expense is justified considering the state of the economy and the massive national debt."

Looking at what happened to the Native Americans, I fully believe that controlling what comes in and what goes out from our borders is extremely important to the future success and safety of this nation. How many millions are here illegally leaching off of our society and government? That would be millions (most say around 10 - 15 million) [2]

"4. Environmentally such a fence would disturb a large natural habitat by essentially cutting it in two. If the fence is built to effectively keep people out that it would probably serve to keep many animals from crossing the border during their natural movements."

This argument should be dropped by CON. Since most all of the animal wild life in this area are rather small, it would be easy to make the fence have holes that small animals can get through that human's cannot. I will leave it at this for now (on this argument), but if CON wishes to continue this point, I will further debate it.

"5. Finally I believe that the fence would symbolize more than just honest US attempts to halt illegal immigration. For clarification, I personally do not support illegal immigration but I think that the fence/wall would become a manifestation of American nativism and discrimination against Mexicans and even just immigrants in general. It would reflect poorly on the US if it were to build such a fence that is so ominously similar to the Berlin Wall. Although this may not be a very concrete argument against the fence I think that the connotation that the fence would create is important to consider."

Unless we are putting gun towers with snipers (which we are not) then I don't see how this is similar to the Berlin Wall. Also, giving that the BW was to keep people in, not to prevent outsiders from getting in. As for the image that it may or may not allude, we want to encourage people to come legally and honestly, not illegally and sneakily.

The reason that a border fence is needed is because it is vital that we control who and what comes into our country, and if not "control" at least be aware of it. If we do not know what is coming in, then we cannot protect ourselves from it, in case protection is needed. The illegal immigration issue is one that needs to be addresses, as my opponent has stated ("I personally do not support illegal immigration...").

The way to solve this is by using the PRO/CON (similar to a supply and demand chart). We need to take action that makes coming legally more appealing and coming illegally more unappealing. A wall fits into this equation and if we adjust the amount of people we allow legally and the speed at which we can process them, the wall will work wonders on the preventing side to help funnel people to legal access.

For more on this and my opinion, refer to [3] were I detail it more.