Illegal immigration at lowest point in 17 years, so why spend billions on the wall?

^_- what? A bad thing that's been a growing problem for many decades has been a bit less of a problem than it has recently been, so why even try to do anything about it?

"Honey, I know we have a lot of credit card debt, but it's better than it has been for years - why even bother trying to do anything about it now?"

"Hey, I know our tactics on the western front are costing us many casualties - but we are suffering a bit fewer than we did in the previous yeads, so why bother doing anything to lower them further?"

"I know the Mayor wants to push this new initiative to lower crime rates, but they're already lower than they were 17 years ago - so why would it make sense to take any other action to lower it further?"

Building a wall will curb illegal immigration - it's pretty common sense. People can't walk over anymore. They might use tunnels - which are far more labor intensive and therefore costly, meaning many who could pay coyotes before now can't, and if the wall is built with the tunnel detection system they were talking about, that'd fix that route too. Which leaves the ocean - it's far easier to spot people crossing the border illegally that way. Yeah, it'd also be good to go after employers - so why not do that ALSO?

 

I agree with the wall but many people think we can only do one thing at a time so they throw out other ways of fighting illegal immigration as a way to prevent the wall being built. The only thing they are doing is giving us ideas on what to do in addition to the wall. We as a nation are perfectly capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time so we can build a wall and incorporate other measures as well, it only has to get through congress and there's the rub.

 

E-verify continues to have an unacceptable rate of failures and it's not mandatory to use. If it was mandatory then it would apply to every job applicant and the error rate for US citizens that cannot be verifies as being lawfully able to be employed would cause an employment crisis and litigation nightmare of epic proportions. Even a very small error rate of just 0.1% (and we know that E-verify has an error rate at least three-times that high) would result in about 200 American citizens or other individuals lawfully entitled to work in the United States per month being fired from a new job that could adversely effect their entire professional career. That "mistake" can literally equate to over $1 million per error.

Are you willing to lose your job, perhaps a job you've been looking for during several months of unemployment, over a government mistake?

Once again this also ignores the vast number of "illegal" immigrants that enter the country legally for employment and then over-stay their visa. They would pass the E-verify inquiry but would become later lose their qualification to work when their visa expires. The number of visa over-stays dwarfs the number of people illegally crossing the Mexican border.

 

The last numbers I've read indicate that four-times as many people illegally in the United States entered the country legally on a visa and then just didn't leave when the visa expired. The illegal border crossing are statistically insignificant when 80% of the "undocumented aliens" are entering the United States legally.

Of note just the number of Canadians and Germans that enter the United States legally each month and become illegal aliens because they don't leave when their visa expires is more than all of the combined illegal immigration from Mexico and the other Central and South Americans countries that enter the United States each month.

 

Cost benefit analysis and ROI's are tools that can help mitigate risk. I prefer taking an assessed risk as opposed to a blind risk. Building a wall because it will give some a warm fuzzy feeling does not mean that the wall will objectively save us more than it costs us.

 

The alternative is temporary, a wall is permanent.

Illegal immigration is down because Trump is the President. Once another democrat gets into office, illegal immigration will once again return to Obama levels.

 

That is my point thus my disappointment that no one seems to care about a cost benefit analysis and an ROI. We the people can either continue to turn a blind eye to what causes government waste or we can face it, analyze it and demand changes... but apparently we are going to continue the status quo and spend money based upon fluffy feelings as opposed to objective assessments.

 

What makes sense to me is to do a cost benefit analysis and an ROI before spending billions of dollars of American taxpayer money. Building the wall based solely upon anecdotal evidence is the type of thinking that leads to government waste. Even if the wall "curb" illegal immigration, this is no way proves that the cost of the wall will be less than the benefit of having the wall.

I have argued for that because I believe that if we reduce employment opportunities for illegals we also reduce desire to come here illegally assuming that many if not most come here illegally for better employment opportunities and by extension a better quality of life.

 

What evidence is there that the cost of the wall will be less than the benefit received by having the wall?

Time will tell. If Trump's other policies (excluding the wall) provide a positive, then I think the democrats will have a hard time reversing Trump policies just as Trump is having a hard time reversing Obamacare. Once people get use to a thing and like it they tend to want to keep it, thus it is plausible that if Trump's other immigration policies work that we the people will want to keep them.

Democrats and republicans are small voter blocks when compared to independents which are roughly the the size of democrat and republicans combined. Do not overestimate the power of the left or the right as is it the independents like me who have the most voting power.

 

Progressive Republicans and Democrats do not want the wall built.
IOW, BUILD THE WALL!

 

That's easy to answer. When stealing a vast amount of money, one needs somewhere to put it or hide it. This is why top bankers build empty skyscrapers. They have to hide that money somewhere, so they figure they'll invest it on high dollar apartments (skyscrapers). And maybe in the future people will be able to afford to rent/buy them. Only problem, they won't. The pyramid/monopoly (economy) will fall. Why, it's all one giant scam, and they got the American people arguing over the best way to do this scam. It's very funny, and at the same time, very disturbing.

 

It is the democrats who were working toward open borders and if they gain the power again it doesn't matter what we the people want.

 

Moot point as the democrats are not in power. Trump has another 3 1/2 to 7 1/2 years to make America great (subjective as that is), and if he accomplishes this, it will be all but impossible for democrats to roll back Trump era policies that are perceived as positives by many Americans.

 

Illegal immigration will pick up dramatically the minute a Democrat wins the White House. We need the wall.

 

I agree wholeheartedly.

 

So you are against e-verify but you are for a wall that by your own admission, won't cure the problem?

 

Mmmmk. What was a refugee from South America doing dabbling AGAIN back south of the border when she was "running from the cartels". Sounds like "unfinished business" being attended to and got whacked in the process.

 

In Florida, all companies must file a new hire list with the state (within 20 days of their hire date) as well as quarterly UTC-6 unemployment compensation earnings reports with the state. This is done primarily to catch people working and receiving unemployment compensation. The state should be able to immediately flag bogus TIN's and send investigators to said businesses, IF THE FEDS share the database with the states. It's my guess that under the Obama administration THAT WASN'T happening. This is something this administration should address.

 

Actually, she had gone to Mexico to meet her family for her father's funeral. Her parents and others in her family had been living in Mexico while waiting to be allowed to take get green cards and move to the US.

 

Because as we saw with the Obama administration, ICE employment and enforcement is at the whim of whoever is elected. A wall will a more longer lasting effect on illegal aliens.

 

Which is why those on the left don't want it.

 

If you believe what Trump is shoveling about Jobs You're going to Welcome immigrants to USA !

Unemployment is at 4.3 % Lowest since 2001. Thanks Largely to President Obama creating 11.3 million jobs

So for GDP to increase.....You're gonna need some workers............

 

There are multiple reasons for the wall.

According to the designs being created in San Diego the most popular one is a wall lined with solar panels. It would be the largest solar panel project in the world and generate a ton of free energy.

There is also a design add nuclear waste storage centers in it eliminating another environmental problem.

Its also a massive infrastructure project which is what we all agree our nation needs.

 

I remember back during the 70's and 80's when I quit a job I had lots of different jobs to choose from and it was very easy to find work in any field you wanted. Employers had to advertise heavily to find employees instead of choosing from hundreds of applications for the one they want to hire. I don't know what the unemployment rate was back then but it was nice to know that you weren't stuck in a dead end job because others were available.

 

Trump not keeping up President Obama deporting immigrants President Obama Deporter in Chief

The Trump administration bragged, and not for the first time, about its crackdown on unauthorized immigrants living in the US on Tuesday — hyping a 27.8 percent increase over last year in removal orders issued from February to June.

Also on Tuesday, new statistics from the Department of Homeland Security (reported byPolitico’s Ted Hesson) showed that deportations are actually down from last year — from an average 20,000 deportations per month in 2016 to an average of 16,900 over the first five months of Trump’s presidency.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/10/16119910/trump-deportations-obama