The pro-immigration Reuters News Service reports that President Donald Trump’s proposed wall along the border with Mexico to prevent illegal immigration will cost as much as $21.6 billion and take at least three years to complete. Reuters said the cost estimate comes from an internal report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
If the estimate is accurate, the border wall will be a bargain for American taxpayers when compared to the costs of illegal immigration. With 654 miles of the border already fortified with fencing, completing a barrier along the remaining estimated 1,250 miles will save taxpayers a whopping $64 billion in costs that taxpayers cover for millions of illegal aliens.
Based on estimates from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS), each alien crossing illegally into the U.S. from the southern border causes a financial burden of $74,722 during his lifetime (based on taxes paid minus government services used), not including any costs for any children the alien might have while in the U.S. That means that if a border security barrier stopped only half of the number of illegal aliens currently projected to successfully enter the U.S. over the next ten years, taxpayers would save nearly $64 billion, or three times as much as Reuters’ estimated wall costs.
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, the NAS developed its cost estimates based on the average border-crossing illegal alien’s education level and income earnings in the U.S. Many other illegal aliens enter the U.S. with legitimate visas but do not leave when the visa expires. Those aliens often have higher education and income levels to which the NAS estimate does not apply.
Researcher Steven Camarota who calculated the border wall savings, said “a border wall would pay for itself even if it only stops a modest fraction of those expected to successfully cross in the next decade.”
These cost savings from a border wall do not even consider the additional benefits such as preventing the entry of terrorists and drugs.