Study: Border Barriers Work

WFB- Barriers along America’s southwestern border significantly reduce illegal immigration, especially by low-skilled migrants, a new study argues.

The analysis, by University of Illinois at Chicago economist Benjamin Feigenberg, provides empirical evidence that the construction of border barriers—in this case, the 700 miles of border fencing authorized by Congress in 2006—cuts migration both in the areas where they are constructed and in adjacent territory.

In total, Feigenberg estimates, a fully fenced border would deter some 86,000 people from crossing the border every three months, at a cost of less than $2,000 per person deterred.

These findings provide robust empirical support for the idea of constructing a barrier along America’s often-porous border with Mexico—a proposal long-supported by Republicans, and President Donald Trump in particular, but vociferously opposed by Democrats. The failure to support more border fencing, once a bipartisan goal, may have helped drive the recent wave of immigration that led to a crisis at the border. MORE