BILL O’REILLY: How do you secure the border, Charles?
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Alright, here’s what I’ve been on for years. You start with a fence. It’s very simple. People say, ‘Oh, fences don’t work. You make a ladder.’ Well, then you build two fences, triple strand fences. San Diego did that in the mid 90’s and within a decade, the illegal immigration rate at that point was reduced by 90% and people ended up going through other places like Arizona.
If fences don’t work, why is there one around the White House? If they don’t work, why is it that the Israeli fence which separate Israel from the West Bank has cut down terror attacks within Israel by 99%. Fences work. Yes, there are parts of the border where you can’t have a fence, fine. So you don’t have it in those areas and you do heavy patrols. But there is no reason why a rich country like us cannot put a fence across — a double fence, a triple fence and patrol it all the time. That would have a tremendous impact.
Good fences make good neighbors. A smile, a wave, a handshake, loan a bowl of this or bit of that, invite over for BBQ or a swim, always at the discretion of either property owner, always knowing that crossing the fence in either direction is at the discretion of the neighbor, by invitation only, and of limited duration barring other exceptional and mutually acceptable circumstances.
