Study: US Already Spent $250 Billion in Border Security: Building Border Wall Unnecessary

Here's an earlier piece that cites a study by Dr. Raul Hinojosa at UCLA on just how much Trump's border wall is going to cost U.S. taxpayers.

The study Duro Contra el Muro: Analysis of Costs and Impacts of Migratory Control Policies in the US by Dr. Raul Hinojosa of the North American Integration and Development Center (NAID Center) concluded that the US border with Mexico has been stable for years due to a combination of US enforcement spending, declining US labor demand, and demographic decline in Mexico.  

This political move also of course seriously places U.S.-Mexico relations in jeopardy, let alone its people. Let's get informed and let's challenge our representatives in Congress on just how foolhardy this is, let alone hateful—such that it's already getting termed by pundits as "A Cold War with Mexico."  Surreal, but true.

Angela Valenzuela
c/s

William C. Velásquez Institute For Immediate Release                           More Information: Tricia Gonzales, 210-240-9546                                                                 Antonio Gonzalez 323-849-4496            Study: US Already Spent $250 Billion in Border Security Building Border Wall Unnecessary (Mexico City, August 31, 2016) "Over the last generation the US has spent nearly $250 billion dollars in border enforcement through various federal laws and annual budget appropriations. Immigration from Mexico has been net zero or negative since 2007. The notion that immigration reform needs to include more border enforcement spending is contrary to the facts. In real terms this element of America's broken immigration system has been solved," said Antonio Gonzalez, WCVI President at a press conference in Mexico City on August 30th. The study Duro Contra el Muro: Analysis of Costs and Impacts of Migratory Control Policies in the US by Dr. Raul Hinojosa of the North American Integration and Development Center (NAID Center) concluded that the US border with Mexico has been stable for years due to a combination of US enforcement spending, declining US labor demand, and demographic decline in Mexico. Hinojosa remarked at the Mexico City press conference "that massive US border enforcement spending has reached absurd heights. US taxpayers are now spending $45,000 for each border apprehension of an unauthorized immigrant compared to slightly more than $1,100 per immigrant in 1992. Today on average each border guard captures 1.6 immigrants per month, compared to about one per day 1992. "The US government is already wasting tax-payers money on border enforcement. And proposals from Presidential Candidate Trump and the bipartisan Senate Comprehensive Immigration Reform proposal S744 of 2014 -which contained the so called 'border-surge program' would waste tens of billions more." "Now more than ever the 9 million unregistered Mexican Americans need to register and vote in the upcoming US elections to send a message to Congress and the President that they oppose building a wall and increased border enforcement. Mexican Americans want legalization for the millions of undocumented workers in our country that have toiled for decades in our fields, restaurants, and factories without basic human and civil rights. They deserve justice," concluded Gonzalez who is also President of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP). See the links below or go to www.wcvi.org for a copy of the study in English or Spanish. *******