SOMETHING THERE WAS THAT DIDN'T LOVE A WALL....

By Juan Montoya
For the Republicans up north spending billion on a border wall to try to stanch the flow of undocumented immigrants may seem like a sane solution.
But those of us who have to live near this hideous structure know better. Even after the large section of the border between Mexico and the United States in South Texas has been completed, this are remains the most illegally crossed area of the border.
In spite of the costly wall, in April, the Border Patrol reported that in the Rio Grande Valley sector, formerly known as the McAllen sector, the apprehension total exploded from 97,762 in 2012 to 154,453 in 2013, the highest figure since 1999.
Since October, agents have apprehended more than 100,000 undocumented immigrants in the Valley sector, Border Patrol spokesman Daniel Tirado said.

CBS News reported that 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 Sierra Club, in their own assessment, that the Taxpayers for Common Senses stated that the 350 miles of pedestrian border wall and 299 miles of vehicle barrier that have been constructed along the U.S. Mexico border costs taxpayers $4.5 million, an average mile of vehicle barrier $1.6 million. In some places the cost of construction has exceeded $12 million per mile.
These figures, they say, do not include additional costs such as those associated with fluctuating fuel, labor, and materials prices, or land acquisition costs. The costs of mitigating the environmental damage caused by the wall and related border enforcement activities have not been factored in either.
According to the U.S. Army Corps, maintenance of the border wall in some areas could cost $5 million to $8 million per mile per year!
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that wall maintenance costs will exceed initial construction costs within seven years, not including costs associated with vandalism.
Even after spending billions of dollars on the wall and other infrastructure, according to a governmental report, the wall has had little impact on the number of migrants crossing into the United States. In 2010 the General Accountability Office reported that As of today, planned fencing-related deployments are almost complete, but their impact on border security has not been measured."
If we assume that over 25 years we spend $75 to $100 billion on the fence, the equipment, maintenance, etc. and estimate that without the new fence 200,000 illegals will arrive annually.
After the fence is built many estimates say the number of illegals entering the U.S. would fall by half, to 100,000. So over 25 years the fence prevented 2.5 million people from coming to America illegally. At $100 billion in cost that comes out to $40,000 per illegal…..at $75 billion the number is $30,000.