It's only taken something like 12 million people sneaking into the country for the government to realize there might be a problem with illegal aliens sneaking into the country. But now that they have recognized that this might be a problem, the question is what are they going to do about it?
Various solutions have been proposed and some are actually being activated. Amongst those being acted upon: building a fence and hiring more border security guards. Both of these solutions are immensely expensive! Thank God, the problem is largely along the border with Mexico. Can you imagine the cost of fencing off the border with Canada? Unfortunately, neither of these initiatives, fences or border guards, is likely to work. If they can't climb over the fence, they'll tunnel under it.
The more inventive will just blast a hole through it. And unless the government is planning to have the border guards hold hands in a human chain, in which case they are going to have to hire the entire population of Texas, that's not going to work too well, either. All in all, though, hiring more guards is preferable, because the fence idea just has too many things going against it. At least, hiring more guards creates long term employment. Although there are on-going jobs that would be available once the fence was completed, anyone living in a major urban area can tell you what happens whenever any expanse of vertical flat space is erected.
Keeping this new structure free of graffiti could be one way of utilizing some of the people who climbed over, tunneled under or blew a hole through this oversized guardrail guardian of our national sovereignty. But such fences also drive down property values. Who wants to live with a view of that filling your vision? No, what's needed here are solutions that not only solve the problem, but also enhance economic opportunity.
Instead of a fence, what is needed is a body of water. Look to England! For centuries, the British Isles were safe from invasion because of just such a feature. Look to Canada! Not many try to sneak in by swimming across the Great Lakes or tight roping across Niagara Falls. Both countries do have problems, but they are of their own making, despite having natural features in their favor.
Looking at a map of the Southern United States, one sees that the Rio Grande River flows for a good distance forming the border between Texas and Mexico. Suppose, in an undertaking not seen since the Suez, this body of water was deepened, widened and extended, all the way to the Pacific ocean
The depth of this new waterway would have to be quite considerable, to accommodate ocean going ships, so we're not talking about something that illegals could wade across. The width would also be quite substantial, because it should be able to accommodate a number of shipping lanes, and that combination of depth and width should provide further deterrents to all but the most determined. If it were constructed entirely at sea level, the width would be even greater, as the water would create a larger body, becoming a better hindrance yet. Being, of course, a southern river, it would probably attract wildlife, such as alligators and carnivorous fish.
The end result would be a domestic route by water from east to west, bypassing the Panama and creating a new route for trade to travel with goods that have been outsourced to the other side of the world. It would be one of the great quests of history being achieved, indeed, the very reason that people ended up on this side of the earth in the first place, but instead of the Northwest Passage, which is impassible when it freezes over, it would be the Southwest Passage, which would only be impassible when Hell freezes over.
What of the illegal aliens already here? There would be plenty of employment available on a guest worker basis, in order to achieve this undertaking, not mention generations of employment in the future port cities that would spring up in the lush new countryside that was the previously uninhabitable Arizona and New Mexico desert. It worked for the railroads in the last century, didn't it?
