Thoughts on a Border Wall
(NOTE: I am not advocating any of this. I am simply laying it out.)
Point 1.
The border between the United States and Mexico is almost 2,000 miles long. The Rio Grande river makes up almost half of it.
a. We obviously cannot build a wall on the Mexican side of the river.
b. Building a wall on the US side of the river would cut the US off from the river, essentially ceding it to Mexico.
c. Building a wall in the middle of the river, if such a thing is even possible, would be, to put it mildly, an engineering challenge, and also incredibly expensive. Plus, the “middle” of a living, flowing river is not a static concept. Plus, we would have to build it on “our side” of the “middle.”
These facts mean that a wall is not a realistic or feasible way to seal almost half the border.
Point 2.
Along with an actual physical barrier, those who advocate it acknowledge that there will also have to be motion detectors and probably drones.
a. In order for motion detectors to be effective, they would have to be placed close enough together for their detection fields to overlap.
b. I haven’t seen any mention of this, but in order to prevent tunneling, seismic sensors would have to be used as well, and again placed close enough together for their fields to overlap.
Note that such a network of detectors and sensors can be deployed anywhere, including along a river bank.
c. A wall is a passive barrier. Motion detectors and seismic sensors are also passive; they can only indicate, not stop, incursion by sending a warning. Therefore actual human beings will be required to monitor the detectors and sensors. If drones are used, each drone would also require a human monitor.
If a wall is built along that portion of the border that isn’t the Rio Grande, it will be ineffective without this network of detectors, sensors, drones, and human monitors.
Point 3.
If detectors, seismic sensors, drones, and human monitors are all deployed, there would be no need to build a wall.
And if I’m smart enough to figure this out, surely someone in government is also smart enough.
Again, I am not advocating this.