When President Joe Biden presided over essentially open U.S. borders, I argued that, contrary to leftist wishes, border walls do work. They are not intended to prevent anyone from getting through in any way, but to prevent illegal people, goods and drugs from easily getting through.
Now the Department of Homeland Security is using “smart walls” that combine high-tech with old-fashioned high, strong barriers to prevent illegal entry. The idea is not new, even if the technology is.
The ancient Romans had an early version of smart walls. At Hadrian’s Wall, in what is now northern England, the Roman Empire erected a wall to mark their northern border, punctuated by forts. Vindolanda is the best preserved major fort, its layout still visible in stone foundations and a wealth of archaeological finds to help us guess what each building was.
Under President Donald Trump, encounters of illegal aliens at the border between ports of entry are about a tenth of what they were in Biden’s peak months. (Getty Images)
From the 1970s onwards, archaeologists found remarkably well-preserved personal items, thanks to the ideal conditions of the surrounding soil. There were not only durable coins, metal, glass and stone, but even leather shoes and clothes, as well as a wealth of letters written on thin wood that the departing troops had not burned. We know a lot about how they lived and worked, communicated and led their army.
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A ‘dumb wall’ would be nothing more than putting up a barrier and hoping that no one can get over, under or around it. The Romans did not trust that. First, although their wall was easy to cross, it created a visible border that all northern tribes would be aware of and thus knew they were entering Roman territory without permission. The occasional head on a skewer, evidence of which was found in Vindolanda, was a primitive warning to the illiterate tribes of the north that moving on might be a bad idea. Nowadays we call this psychological operations, or ‘psy-ops’.
Second, the Roman Wall in northern Britain, like the U.S. southern border barrier system, also had early models of signal intelligence to better direct resources to threatened areas. Vindolanda was manned by a cohort, about 500 men or one-tenth of a legion. The men regularly patrolled on foot and on horseback. They were ready to move wherever a threat arose, warned by messengers on horseback or by signal fires lit at high points along the border. They received regular correspondence from the other fortresses, and occasionally from Rome itself, to keep them informed.
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Two thousand years later, the modern American Border Patrol has more men than the Romans in Britain, but they are still few compared to the land they cover. The Border Patrol is getting much-needed new manpower and resources after years of neglect under Biden and former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who pulled staff off the line to process and release illegal aliens into the country.
But even with the significant boost they get from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, they will still be spread thinly along the 2,000 miles of the southern border and nearly 3,000 miles to the north. That’s why, like Roman signal fires and messengers, high-tech cameras, sensors, drones and lights on the wall or around the border area can all help detect illegal border crossings early so that the patrol can quickly dispatch vehicles and officers to intercept them.
Under Biden, illegal aliens were so confident of their release that they happily surrendered to any American in uniform. Millions were released during Biden’s four years. However, under President Donald Trump, things have completely changed. Encounters of illegal aliens at the border between ports of entry are about a tenth of what they were in Biden’s peak months.
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And unlike the Biden years, almost no one is released into the country pending a years-long immigration process. Instead, as required by law, they are usually held during the immigration process until the U.S. determines whether they have the right to stay. This fact alone has deterred many from even trying to come illegally.
DHS recently announced the award of $4.5 billion in contracts for 170 miles of various types of barriers along the border with Mexico. This includes 80 miles of the mid-Rio Grande barriers along the Texas border, potentially including the effective rotating orange buoys the state installed despite Biden administration opposition as part of Operation Lone Star in 2023.
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DHS’s “smart wall” not only means 30-foot steel pole walls, but also better roads for Border Patrol vehicles to respond to raids, as well as lighting, cameras and sensors. Smart Walls will be built or improved in El Paso and Del Rio Texas, San Diego and El Centro in California, and in Tucson and Yuma, Arizona – the location of the Morelos Gap, where I saw hundreds of illegals crossing in one night in 2023.
The Roman Empire knew that walls worked. If properly staffed and supported, they can create a stable border with limited access, according to the rules they set. During Trump’s second term, the United States is using the same proven tactics to restrict illegal entry into the United States, reducing drug smuggling, human trafficking and other crimes.
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