How would the wall effect drug smuggling?

SOURCE: Washington Examiner

The economic principle I’m exploring is that all choices have an opportunity cost.

My research question to help me study the economic principle is “How would the wall effect drug trafficking?”

The article published in The Washington Post titled “Want to Know Where Most Drugs Come From? Look at the Border Patrol’s News Releases” demonstrates this economic principle by going into how drug smugglers cross the border, how many drugs come across the border, and what percent of drugs come from the southern U.S. border. 

First, the author goes into crossing the border and the simplicity of it. “You bring trucks of drugs by making a right 20 miles, and a left into the country.” They bring massive amounts of drugs, and they do it because there’s no barrier, there’s no hardened wall.” With this being said, it shows how since there is not a physical wall throughout all of the border, it is very easy to illegally smuggle things across the border.

Second, the author shows the amount of drugs that get stopped at the ports of entry and by immigration checkpoints. From November 1st, 2018 to February 1st, 2019, there were 120 drug busts, 96 were at these two places. In these 120 busts, about 33,249.25 pounds of drugs were stopped. These are just the ones at the legal places of entering and being stopped. With people admitting the simplicity of sneaking these things across the border, imagine how many pounds of drugs get through without being stopped. 

Third, there is a very high percent of drugs that come through that border. Of the illegal drugs, about 90% of them come across the US’s southern border. Not all of them originate in Mexico, some are from other South American countries. This proves that something needs to be done, since a large majority of the illegal drugs are coming through the southern border.

I think with all of these points being said, it shows that something needs to be done about the amount of drugs that come through. It is admitted how easy it is to take them across the border without a real wall, so to reduce the amount of drugs that come through, it makes sense to put up a real wall in order to achieve this goal.