Should America Build a Virtual Border Wall? Or Just Crowdfund It... (chicagotribune.com)

As America's government faces its longest-ever shutdown over the president's demands for border wall funding, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has suggested "possible alternatives to a physical wall," according to one Silicon Valley newspaper: Among the president's justifications for a wall is to stop drugs from coming into the United States, so Pelosi proposed spending "hundreds of millions of dollars" for technology to scan cars for drugs, weapons and contraband at the border. "The positive, shall we say, almost technological wall that can be built is what we should be doing," Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said during her weekly press conference.

That didn't go over well with Fight for the Future, a digital rights advocacy group that on Friday started a petition asking Democrats to drop plans for a "technological wall" that it says could threaten Fourth Amendment rights that guard against unreasonable searches and seizures. "Current border surveillance programs subject people to invasive and unconstitutional searches of their cell phones and laptops, location tracking, drone surveillance, and problematic watchlists," the group's petition says...

In December, the Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General released a report that showed searches of electronic devices at the border were up nearly 50 percent in 2017. The report also found that border agents were not always following standard operating procedures for searches, including failing to properly document such searches. In addition, information copied by agents were not always deleted as required.
The article also notes that Anduril Industries -- founded by Oculus Rift designer Palmer Luckey (and funded by Peter Thiel) -- is one of several companies already working on "a virtual border wall."

CNN also reports on a GoFundMe campaign started by an Air Force veteran to simply crowdfund the construction of the wall. Though 340,747 people pledged over $20 million, it failed to reach its $1 billion goal, and is now pointing supporters to a newly-formed non-profit corporation -- named "We Build the Wall."

Meanwhile, another 7,121 GoFundMe members have pledged $160,985 to a rival campaign raising money for ladders to climb over Trump's wall.

Comments

The human cost

[Okian Warrior]

There is also the human cost to consider.

Rep. Brooks outlines the cost of not having a wall:

“With the southern border, we have the loss of at least 15,000 Americans a year. You have 2,000 that are homicides by illegal aliens, according to federal government data. You’ve got another 15,000, 16,000 that die each year from heroin overdoses, 90 percent of which comes across our porous southern border. That’s not counting the 55,000 additional deaths that are caused by overdoses, a significant amount of which comes across the southern border,” Brooks stated."

I've looked into this, and the numbers are accurate. The GAO estimates for 2009 show that Arizona had 240 illegal immigrant inmates incarcerated in federal prison for homicide related charges. California had 2430, Florida had 480, New York had 1350, and Texas had 900.

"Taking the data only from these five states, and assuming that each person incarcerated for a homicide-related offense is responsible for only one death, yields 5,400 people killed by illegal aliens."

For comparison, automobile deaths in the US is around 35,000 annually.

Total non-medical deaths in the US is about 161,000 annually. Deaths due to illegals is more than 2% of that, possibly as much as 10%, depending on where you put the blame for overdosing.

All of this is fact, and should be the basis for any political arguments about the wall.

The human cost of not having a wall is very high.

Re:The human cost

[AHuxley]

the wall forces most shipments to pass into inspection.
Illegal mights then has to attempt to pass their fake documents.
The wall hears the criminals, illegal migrants to areas where they face some inspection.
K9 units, truck scanning, voice prints, CCTV on all drivers and passengers.
That the neat part of a wall. Criminals and illegal migrants have to pass inspection and show documents.
Like in any normal nation again :)

Virtual walls don't work

[AHuxley]

Once the illegal migrant is in the USA they are free to stay for decades and generations.
Another nations criminal is free do do crime in the USA once past a virtual detection system.

Build a wall and the crime, illegal migration and moment of drugs stops along the wall.
Illegal migrants then have to present a legal crossing with fake documents and are easy to return to their own nations.

Re:Virtual walls don't work

[AHuxley]

AC when an illegal migrant enters the USA they are free to wonder around the USA for years, decades and generations.
Criminals can do all the crime they want until detected.
A wall makes the illegal migrants and criminals have to pass under a camera, get scanned, pass K9 units and have a legal reason to enter and stay in the USA.
Their documents have to be accepted. Their reason to be in the USA has to be accepted.
Count every person into the USA. Count every person out of the USA. No more illegal immigration AC.

Well if you want a real solution

[rsilvergun]

it's not interfering with Latin American countries for the sake of oil profits, cheap labor and our stupid, anti-left wing drug war.

If you want folks to stop streaming over the boarder make it so their countries aren't hell holes. Those people in the Caravans are refugees from political violence America caused by destabilizing their governments. Reign the CIA and the war hawks in.

Re:Apples and oranges...

[lgw]

Clinton (both), Pelosi, and most high-profile Democrats were in favor of border security, including a wall, before Trump was involved. Didn't Bill Clinton even promise a wall in some year's SOTU?

It's not about the wall, clearly. They don't want Trump to get a win. Pure pettiness. Which is fucking stupid: do you utter morons really expect to beat Trump in a war of petty childish behavior? Seriously? That outranks a land war in Asia for a fight not to pick! Both sides are holding their breath until they turn blue; guess who has the least to lose from brain damage? Trick question, they're all idiots.