Border Security
Land, sea and air borders are essential to maintaining the security of any sovereign nation. Because protecting borders is one of the key functions of government, unsecured or porous borders undermine a public’s trust in their government and the rule of law.
- In Fiscal Year 2019, the Border Patrol apprehended a near-record 860,000 illegal aliens nationwide, including 852,000 (99 percent) on the Southwestern border.
- During the 1990s the U.S. government built the first 14 miles of such a barrier.
- The Secure Fence Act of 2006 authorized the construction of a partial border fence along 700 miles of the 1,954-mile U.S.-Mexico border.
- The costs of building a border wall/fence – usually estimated at $20-25 billion – are dwarfed by the burden of illegal immigration, which currently costs the American taxpayer $132 billion annually, and which may rise to $200 billion by 2025 if current illegal immigration trends continue.
Land, sea and air borders are essential to maintaining the security of any sovereign nation. Because protecting borders is one of the key functions of government, unsecured or porous borders undermine a public’s trust in their government and the rule of law. Strong enforcement measures are also critical to securing our borders. Absent those, criminal aliens, terrorists or those wishing to benefit from America’s generosity can enter the U.S.
FAIR supports numerous measures to secure our borders, including building a wall or fence along the 1,954-mile-long U.S. border with Mexico – where the vast majority of illegal aliens attempt to enter – along with the employment of appropriate technology and sufficient personnel levels. We also believe that clamping down on asylum abuse and increasing immigration enforcement will discourage attempts to rush our borders and thereby make them more secure.
