Ben Carson supports greater militarization along the U.S.-Mexico border, which includes drone strikes if necessary.
Law-enforcement officials took Carson in a helicopter to observe drug-trafficking routes Wednesday.
“This is easy, but we don’t have the will to do it,” Carson said, according to the Arizona Republic. “Some of these caves that are out there, one drone strike and, poof, they’re gone. And they’re easy to find. … Let this become a military issue instead of a bureaucrats issue.”
Unfazed by concerns over militarizing the area, Carson justified the potential buildup because of undocumented immigration and terrorist concerns.
On his Facebook page, Carson was concerned about “the dire straits of our border problems.”
“The Feds are clearly the problem. This is a National Security issue,” Carson said.
Carson lacks a detailed plan financially or practically. To seal the border, a 2013 Bloomberg Government study estimated that it would cost an additional $28 billion per year. The Obama administration spent almost $12 billion on border security in 2012, and both figures only address the U.S.-Mexico border, not the coasts nor the Canadian border.
Republicans presidential hopefuls have given speech after speech with tough rhetoric on illegal immigration, but it’s not clear what securing the border, deporting undocumented immigrants, and reforming immigration will entail.
An examination from The Economist writes off immigration enforcement as the primary cause for illegal immigration. Economic booms and busts attract or repel immigrants, and as populations age to the south, demography could decrease the number of immigrants into the United States. Tighter border security, according to economist Gordon Hanson’s research, drove a 33 percent drop in migration from the late 1990s to 2010. Keeping so many migrant workers out, however, could harm economic growth and the productivity of the states.
Immigration has been a winning topic for Donald Trump and other candidates as they talk about a secure border. Yet the image of an open, unsecure, and dangerous border isn’t so simple. President Obama’s record on deportation, and the relative strength of the border as it is, complicates the picture. The supposed surge in crime as a result of immigrants is, at best, questionable.
Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Jason Riley notes that “numerous studies going back more than a century have shown that immigrants—regardless of nationality or legal status—are less likely than the native population to commit violent crimes or to be incarcerated.”
Militarizing the border and flying drones to arrest undocumented immigrants and bomb drug-cartel hideouts might gain some votes, but noticeable improvement on immigration will be lacking if economic incentives and reality remain ignored.
