Sealing our borders against illegal migrants has been a priority since the beginning of President Trump’s campaign for office. The “border wall” has been debated to the point where there surely must be little left to be added to the discussion. But it turns out that isn’t true. There is more to the story.
The left has railed against the project as too expensive. That’s just funny coming from the champions of big government. Liberals also have played the discrimination card, claiming that the wall would be a slap in the face to Hispanics. Something else that’s not true. What they won’t admit is that open borders are a key part of their plan to create new Democratic voters.
But back to the costs. Could it be that there are cost savings that would result from the wall? Savings that might even more than pay for it? This is exactly the case. And thus the left will have to deny facts in order to argue that the border wall is too expensive. The savings that will result will actually be massive.
“Now, after Trump has been in office for nearly a full year, The Wall Street Journal reported that it had received a document from the Department of Homeland Security that outlined how the administration sought roughly $18 billion over 10 years to construct approximately 700 miles of new border barriers, which would more than double the already existing 654 miles of border wall.
“According to Breitbart, the administration is actually asking for about $33 billion over 10 years to fund a variety of border security measures, of which the wall is merely one part.
“Roughly half of the requested funds would go toward hiring more Border Patrol officers, installing surveillance towers and other technology, and the construction and maintenance of roads in the border region.
“Notably, that $18 billion over 10 years for the wall works out to just $1.8 billion per year, or about a penny out of each $20 spent by the federal government.”
Even though this $1.8 billion per year is hardly a blip on the screen, any waste is objectionable. So, what will we get in return for the money spent on this project? Plenty.
“In September, FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, released the results of a study it conducted into just how much illegal immigrants cost taxpayers every year, and the figure the group reached is nothing short of astounding.
“Contrary to popular claims from Democrats that illegal immigrants pay enough in taxes to cover any burdens they may impose on taxpayers, FAIR found that the situation was actually wildly out of balance on the local, state and federal level.
“Using a widely-agreed-upon estimate of 12.5 million illegal immigrants in the country, it was determined that those illegals — plus their estimated 4.2 million citizen children — cost taxpayers about $134.9 billion annually. That number breaks down to about $45.8 billion on the federal level and $88.9 billion on the state and local level.
“Meanwhile, it is estimated that those same illegals only contribute about $18.9 billion in total taxes paid — $15.4 billion federal and $3.5 billion state and local — leaving a grand total annual burden of approximately $116 billion on American taxpayers.”
So when you run the numbers it becomes obvious that the money proposed to be spent on border security is minuscule compared with the savings resulting from curtailing illegal immigration. Easy math: $116 billion minus $1.8 billion leaves Americans with a savings of $114.2 billion!
And then there are the human costs. Given that not all of these illegals are peaceful, law-abiding individuals, Americans will be safer and there will be fewer victims of violent crime.
On every point, the proposed border wall and related security measures will be benefits to Americans and to government finances. The only question that should remain is when we can get started.
Source: Conservative Tribune
