Government Shutdown

[hazard]

Cute, trying to piss me off because you don't like where I stand, fine.

Let me turn the question around on all of you since we can now acknowledge that the cost is honestly not the problem. What does building the wall do that will hurt Americans so much that you are against it?

It's either a 5 billion dollar waste of effort because it won't be maintained, or it's a 5 billion dollar and more waste of effort because it has to be maintained, patrolled, checked and inspected around the clock for its entire length. If it isn't monitored people will chance it and have a high chance of getting across. Either by going over it, through it, or under it.

If you want to spend 5 billion dollars on stopping immigration across the USA/Mexico border you'd be better off denying any and all visa for all countries from Middle and Southern America and invest the manpower and money in rigorous enforcement of foreigner work permit regulations (Green Cards IIRC).

Of course, this does mean that a good chunk of the USA's agricultural workforce disappears. Here is a link for a CBS piece offering an overview of what industries make extensive use of illegal migrants. Should efforts to completely close down illegal immigration succeed and all illegal migrants be deported this means that approximately 5% of your nation's entire workforce is disappears, largely in low paying and/or unskilled jobs.

Food prices are likely to see a drastic increase as wages, long repressed by cheap labour from abroad, rocket up in a desperate attempt to draw in enough farmhands, as does further mechanisation of the agricultural sector. Many service industries, especially in the south, will see staff shortages. The construction industry will also see labour shortages, causing delays and increases in the construction of new homes, factories, power plants and anything and everything else.

Of course, with the disappearance of 5% of the workforce, even if largely in low paying and/or unskilled jobs you are also likely to see a disappearance of roughly 5% of your economy and thus your government's taxes. Yes, taxes. Because illegal immigrants do pay taxes, but get no to very limited benefit from them, being illegal immigrants without the papers to get government assistance. Which means that while GDP and taxes drop the costs do not drop as much, increasing the deficit.