Sparked by a worldwide infusion of illegal immigration, global border wall construction jumped 250 percent in the last 10 years, and they proved extremely effective, according to a new report.
The number of border walls surged from 20 in 2005 to 70 last year after a near 45-year lull, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
“In light of concerns over spontaneous migration of large numbers of asylum seekers and migrants, and the effects that their arrival could have on public budgets, employment, and social cohesion, border walls suddenly became appealing to leaders in key destination or transit countries,” said the report titled “Borders and Walls: Do Barriers Deter Unauthorized Migration?”
It added, “For some, barriers represent a tangible solution to clamp down on unauthorized entries and show they are taking action to enforce the border. This view can be summed up by an oft-repeated Trump mantra on why borders matter: ‘We either have a country, or we don’t have a country.'”
In the U.S., and Hungary, the new walls proved effective, said the report in its focus on the two countries.
“Short sections of walls have also proved effective at decreasing movement across international borders. This was demonstrated in the 1990s on the U.S.-Mexico border when the first sections of fencing were built in El Paso and near San Diego, supported by large deployments of Border Patrol agents. In the weeks that followed, crossings in those sectors dropped to almost zero. Similarly, the construction of Hungary’s border fence in 2015 was backed up with border guards, and consequently, crossings dropped substantially,”
In criticizing the walls, however, the report said that they shifted illegal immigration to other areas, and may have resulted in higher death rates.
“The funneling of migrants to alternative routes points to one statistic that correlates closely with the construction of more walls: an increase in the number of deaths,” said the report.
It called wall costly political symbols that in the past have not fully worked.
Concluded the report:
If walls did not work in the past and today only work to divert, not prevent, migrant flows—while simultaneously having a grave human cost—why have so many gone up in the past 30 years? They are effective as symbols that demonstrate that politicians are doing something to address the perceived threats brought by unauthorized movement. These perceived threats can be economic in the form of smugglers or workers taking revenue and jobs from citizens. They can be cultural in the sense that migrants bring different traditions, languages, and ways of life that might not match with the local culture.
While these underlying issues are complex and very rarely solved by whether or not a border is secured, “build a wall” is an evocative slogan and the barrier itself is a powerful visual symbol of action. Consequently, despite the expense and questionable effectiveness, it seems likely that in the short term there will be many more walls going up around the world. What remains to be seen, however, is how long they will stay up.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
