Uncle Sam’s Fencing Skills

Those tempted to let Republicans get their way on health care reform should look at the results of the last time Republicans got their way, the border fence between the United States and Mexico that was started during the Bush administration.

The fence was started because the Republican Howler Chorus then was baying that illegal immigrants from Mexico were “invading.” Fences and walls have lousy records against invaders going back to Roman times, but Howlers don’t let facts spoil their music.

And so Uncle Sam launched an effort to build a fence along the 1,969 miles of border between the United States and Mexico, ignoring the fact that excellent ladders were widely available on the Mexican side, as well as wirecutters, axes, shovels and other handy implements.

If you want to wade through the details, start here, but the short course is that we’ve built 600 miles or so of fence for $2.4 billion, which doesn’t include the more than $4 million we’ve spent fixing the thousands of holes already punched through it.

Now not even the federal government is dumb enough to attempt a physical fence for the entire border length, so much of the rest will be a technology-based fence, at least if funding and technology for that effort materialize.

Until then, the worth of a “virtual” fence against a “real” fence crosser is open to debate.

All of which surfaced in media stories this week of a Government Accountability Office Report pointing out that in addition, we’ll spend $6.5 billion maintaining this marvel over the next 20 years.

So let’s review –

We’ve bet more than $2.4 billion so far, we haven’t funded the rest and it’ll suck another $6.5 billion just keeping even with what we’ve got.. Of course we are doing this to keep out the roughly half a million illegal immigrants each year who arrive to join the 12 million or so already here. So that’s $8.9 billion and climbing for keeping out illegals.

If we keep them out. With 12 million strikeouts, our batting average isn’t anything to brag about.

So let’s stop fencing them out and try buying them out. About 40 percent of Mexico’s population tries to get by on about $550 a year. If we offer the half million who try to come here each year another $550 to stay right where they are, it only costs us $275 million a year.

Which means over 20 years, it would cost $5.5 billion – lots less than what’s projected now, never mind the costs of the yet-to-be funded (or invented) technology portion.

Poor Mexicans are happy because they’ve doubled their incomes and didn’t have to leave home. American taxpayers are happy because they’re paying less per head to stop illegal immigration. Even Republicans might be happy, at least behind closed doors and in the privacy of their own homes.

Sure, fence companies and the folks that sell ladders and wirecutters are going to face rough times, but they can always cut lawns or clean houses or process chickens to get by.

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