Everyone knows about Trump’s border wall which was a keystone of his 2016 election campaign.
Although Trump claimed that he would make Mexico pay for the wall, it is in fact the US which has funded all the work to date.
Billions out of Stretched Budgets
The estimated cost of the wall so far has been $15 billion.
A large portion of the money has been taken from the military budget. It has cost about $20 million per mile of wall built.
Does it Work?
Whether or not the wall has been effective in lowering illegal immigration depends on who you ask.
891 breaches of the wall were reportedly made in 2019 alone, with some Mexican smugglers sawing through the wall multiple times per day. Parts of it have blown down in strong winds. On the other hand, US border agents report that it does indeed help them control the flow of migrants.
Texas Governor Believes in it
One person who definitely believes in the border wall’s efficacy is Governor Greg Abbott of Texas.
He has taken on the task of building the Texas section of the border wall himself, using state funds.
Thirty-four miles
So far, there are thirty-four miles of steel bollards along Texas’s border with Mexico.
The current rate of build is about half a mile per week and it costs around $25 million per mile. More than Trump’s sections of the wall.
Slow Progress
One of the things that is slowing the build of the wall is land owndership issues.
For the wall to be built, private landowners have to sign their land over to the state. This takes time, persuasion and money.
Decades in the Making
At the current rate of build, it will take until 2050 to complete the wall in Texas.
Once the wall is complete, there is then a maintenance cost, which is estimated at $500,000 per mile, per year.
Full Cost of Texas Wall
The full cost of the complete Texas wall is estimated at $24 billion.
That’s three times more than it would have cost to pay the tuition fees of every public university student last year, according to the Texas Tribune.
Hesitation Over Cost
Even some Republicans are starting to balk at the high cost of the Texas wall.
Lubbock State Senator, Charles Perry, said: “I am for border security. I am not against a wall. But to me, at least from what I can tell, it is a perpetual circle. We’re on the hamster wheel. At some point the response has not to be more money for infrastructure.”
Debate Continues
Even while the wall is being built, the debate about its efficacy versus the cost continues.
State Representative Christina Morales said she doesn’t think that the governing body of Texas understand why people are crossing in the first place. “Spending billions of dollars on a wall really does not address the root causes of the migration that’s happening,” she said.
