Border Wars and technology

Mods Please move this to the appropriate category, this is my first attempt at posting a new Topic.

I was watching the National Geographic Channel show Border Wars seeing how Border Patrol agents have difficulty in monitoring the Texas border due to the twists and turns of the Rio Grande river. I can completely understand the challenge that they have to deal with in securing the border. Of course that got the engineering part of my brain on full problem solving mode.

I thought of the amount of money spent on the "drug war" as it does have to do with the border being unsecured, The cost of deportation, the cost of illegal immigrants impact on society as a whole, the Department of Homeland Security Budget in regards to the possibility of deterring terrorism and started adding in trying to determine if there would be enough money to fund my proposal.

So why not use something like the CIWS (Close-In Weapon Systems) Phalanx or the CIWS Goalkeeper which is Fully Autonomous and has search and tracking radars which assign targets based on threat levels.

Now of course, the working systems for these weapon systems are most likely classified, but if they were deployed across the United States' southern border with some sort of Flir systems with target recognition systems and protocols for determining range, after the first couple failed attempts of crossing outside of manned United States point of embarkation/debarkation should, I would hope, stop the Illegal Immigration and Smuggling.
I know that a fence would probably be cheaper, but has animal rights people stating the animals couldn't get through. The CIWS under theory be designed not to target life that is not human in shape/heat signature. Before people state that this is against human rights etc, Military Installations do at times deploy Mine Fields around their parameter and warning signs would be well posted in the pertinent languages for the region. If one was to do the job with the utmost efficiency, with the Commercial Space Programs sprouting up, and even Google having it's own satellite Google Launches Mapping Satellite Department of Homeland Security could have a geostationary orbiting satellite put up to monitor the region and allow for the deactivation of CWIS in areas for emergency situations by human personnel.

Just a thought...I'd like any constructive feedback.

If I posted the video incorrectly, please assist with correcting by re-posting as I apparently didn't understand how to to it in the first place.

I think that lining the border with killbots, though it would quickly stop unwanted traffic, is kind of a nightmarish idea in general. It would also earn the scorn of many countries in the world and hasten the loss of global influence America is experiencing. That isn't even counting the cost of deploying maintain and supplying thousands of killbots along the border. Also, what about the wildlife that these things will kill?

My idea:

1) Make it easier to immigrate or work in the US legally

2) Remove a certain major profit source for the cartels (rules here mean I can't say what exactly) though changes in laws.

But these won't happen because the true power brokers are making way too much bloody money through the complex of the illicit money on one end and the profits of the prison system on the other.

The people who ultimately profit from the cartels are on the side of the fence you weren't expecting

Nope and nope.

Originally posted by Nephalim
Nope and nope.

The guy put a decent amount of work into the thread and even though if his idea became reality tomorrow I would be terrified I think that when someone responds to a thread they should at least put some effort into it as well.

You, sir, are simply fishing for stars, which is an activity that I think actively degrades the quality of this site.

Originally posted by Mkoll

Originally posted by Nephalim
Nope and nope.

The guy put a decent amount of work into the thread and even though if his idea became reality tomorrow I would be terrified I think that when someone responds to a thread they should at least put some effort into it as well.

You, sir, are simply fishing for stars, which is an activity that I think actively degrades the quality of this site.

edit on 12-12-2012 by Mkoll because: (no reason given)

You think this thread requires anything more than a simple no?
What part of murder and the tremendous amounts of human rights violations is a good idea again?

Hey mods, favor? If its at all possible, disable my stars and points. If not possible thanks anyway.

Nope and nope will suffice. Thank you very much.

reply to post by Nephalim


I think nope, nope and an explanation of why is appropriate, not simply nope and nope

Here is a solution that I wish were my own but i did read about it elsewhere.

Since the Rio Grande river covers a great deal of the U S/ Mexico border anyway, dig and dredge it to cover the entire border and be wide enough to have to swim a considerable distance to cross it.

Use the material dug out and dredged to bolster the New Orleans levee system.

Catch and remove as many of the alligators and crocodiles as possible from urban areas where they pose a threat to people and relocate them to the newly extended Rio Grande river.

You get three problems solved with one program. How much more efficient than that can you get.

Heres a better idea. The US government could just stop interefering in the business of other nations, and reserve its entire military for border control. Much better for everyone concerned, and no where near as bloody expensive!

reply to post by FleetAdmiral


Yes, these and many other items need to be placed on the border. All it would take would be interdiction with maybe a hand-full of illegals crossing to get the message across.
Plus, hitting companies that hire illegals knowingly hard, like $500k fine for each time and some jail sentencing as well.

i think they already have unmanned, border "killbots" in south korea
or at least were trialling them