Sovereign governments have both the right and the duty to establish and enforce their policies with respect to who can and can’t enter the country, under what conditions and for how long. That said, border security is still a function of government and subject to all of the inefficiencies, waste, political posturing and mismanagement that plague everything government does.
Yet many conservatives want the federal government to throw billions of dollars more at border security; it isn’t like we’ve been starving that part of the federal budget.
Federal border patrol appropriations have been at least $3.5 billion each year beginning in 2009, according to a 2012 Congressional Research Service report, more than twice what it was in 2005. There were 21,500 border patrol agents in 2011, nearly a 10-fold increase from 1980. And yet, the Government Accountability Office recently reported that the U.S. Border Patrol intercepted only about 61 percent of the illegal immigrants trying to sneak across the U.S.-Mexican border.
But before considering immigration reform, many conservatives demand a dramatic increase in border security spending, including 700 miles of fencing and 20,000 more border patrol agents at a cost of $40 billion over 10 years (in the Senate bill).
Normally, conservatives argue that throwing more government money at a problem—e.g., public education, welfare, etc.—doesn’t necessarily lead to better outcomes. Shouldn’t that same skepticism apply to border security?
Millions of foreigners want to come to the U.S. for the freedom and economic opportunity. And who can blame them for that dream? That’s why the real solution to the border security problem is a guest worker program that allows many more workers of all education and skill levels to do so legally and openly. That doesn’t mean citizenship or welfare benefits; those are entirely different issues.
Once foreigners have a legal way to enter the country and work, efforts to enter illegally will decline dramatically—and will be limited primarily to the bad people we must stop.
Border security is a form of national defense, and only the government can do it. As such, spending money on it is perfectly legitimate, as opposed to most of the things the federal government spends money on.
The question we should be asking is whether additional money would actually solve the problem. Conservatives have long criticized big government for its repeated failures and shortcomings. Is there any reason to think “big border security” will be any different?
July 16, 2013