Statement: Build a fence between the U.S. and Mexico.
Issue: Immigration
Strongly Supports: 2114
Supports: 2625
Neutral: 1514
Opposes: 2360
Strongly Opposes: 2548
Average position: 'Neutral' (based on '11161' opinions)
The statement refers to building a fence along the 1,952 mile (3141 km) border between the United States and Mexico. The goal of the fence is to keep would be illegal immigrants from entering the United States.
Supporters point to Duncan Hunter building of a fence in San Diego that he says reduced drug smuggling and illegal immigration by 95%.
They also point to walls around the world and throughout history that were very successful in keeping people out. They point to the Great Wall of China that worked for hundreds of years, the French Army's Maginot Line during WWII, and the Berlin Wall. Currently there are successful border fences in Israel, and Saudi Arabia.
Oppenents have claimed that these operations are just a public relations ploy used to convince U.S. citizens that the border is "secure", while the economy benefits from the continuing flow of cheap labor across the border. If the border fence doesn't cover the entire border, it will just reroute illegal immigrants to parts of the border without fence. If we wanted to secure our borders, we should use technology instead of an archaic fence.
There are also three Native American Nations whose lands would be divided by the proposed border fence. Also, the proposed route for the border fence would divide the campus of the University of Texas at Brownsville into two parts. This shows that many people cross the U.S./Mexico border as an everyday part of life and a fence would greatly interfere with their lives.
An additional argument is that a border fence would damage the environment and harm wildlife.
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