Ricardo Chavira Chicano

The American politicians yammering about the border stems from the mistaken belief that boots on the ground is the fix.

A cursory probe presents a stunning reality.

There are a bit more than 16,600 U.S. Border Patrol Agents posted along the 2,000-mile-long Mexican border. That works out to approximately 8.35 Border Patrol agents per mile along the U.S.-Mexico border. That doesn’t sound like a border that is out of control.

Let’s say the number of agents was increased to 30,000.

In that case, there would be 15 Border Patrol agents per mile. Hundreds of miles of border terrain is rugged and inhospitable.

But, wait. There’s more.

Estimates suggest that 40-50% of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. entered legally through ports of entry and became undocumented by overstaying their visas, while the other 50-60% entered without inspection, typically through unauthorized border crossings.