No but we seem to have no trouble pissing money away on them. A wall would actually be an investment that would return many times its costs.
I think an investment in larger centers for processing and entry at the border checkpoints rather than small lane booths, more border control guards, more drone/survelliance equipment, repairs to existing ingrastructure, expanding ICE systems to track people who overstay legal visas, would do a lot more at less than $2 billion than building a wall over that kind of terrain at a cost of $5 billion and will have a negligible effect. Build that wall is a political slogan chant that gets the masses fired up but they dont do any research into the real holes in the system that need to be repaired and at a much lower cost than erecting some structure that will do little to stop the problem. So it is ironic to condemn pissing away of money on those things but think $5 billion in a wall is not pissing away money. Spending 1-2 billion a year will still be a ton of money but achieve more than just giving construction firms a windfall contract for 2-3 years.
Yes! I'd like to see the troops brought home from Yemem posted on the southern border... with instructions to SHOOT all tresspassers. Won't take no $5B worth of of lead to put a halt on illegal invasion!
Scat.... I would have to agree with some of the thoughts in El OchoCinco's post. The items he lists are all necessary. However we still need a "wall". The reality is that the "wall" will consist of physical barriers, technology (drones / surveillance/ etc.) and increased staffing. The "wall" is easy to visualize when pushing the politicians and public for funding. However I expect the "wall" will consist of a combination of items beyond a physical barrier.
The wall is partly a physical barrier and partly symbolic. What America should do and should have done long ago... make it known that illegal immigration will not be tolerated. PERIOD! The way they do that is with dire consequences so that invaders stop trying. Think of N. Korea or Iran. Accidentally step one foot across their border and get caught, you might spend 10 years in prison or get a bullet behind the ear. If you respect the sovereignty of your border, you do something like that. America... we're a bunch of DUMBASSES! Our foreign policy about immigration is as stupid as stupid can be. We have laws about legal and illegal immigration... but if you are "ballsy" enough to get away with violating our sovereign border... by stepping one foot onto American soil... we reward you with a lifetime of social/financial support at the expense of American tax payers. How F'd up is that??
Who says we can't do both? My point is that you can disagree about the wall, but in the context of how much money our country pisses away, it is not a very large sum. And you might be wrong. It might turnout to be highly effective, just as Israel's is, which of course is the real reason democrats are against it.