Securing the Border

Everybody is in favor.  Nobody has spelled out just what they mean.  The Donald wants Mexico to pay for it.  Nobody has estimated the cost.  
   Let's ignore the problem of people who just drive up to a border checkpoint, show some paper work and drive on thru.  And neglect to go home.   That's another problem for another day.  I'm talking about preventing people walking or driving across the 1900 mile border that stretches from San Diego to Brownsville. 
   For me, I'd settle for a regulation chain link fence from sea to shining sea, backed up with a dirt road on our side of the fence, a few hundred yards back, to allow for jeep patrols.  And air surveillance, by two place light aircraft, say Cessna 172's.  No trendy but pricey drones, helicopters, electronics, camera's, and other welfare for contractors.  The fence stops vehicles, or at least the hole in the fence tells you someone crashed thru it.  The air reconnaissance spots people on the move and calls for agents to drive out and arrest them. 
  Costs for fence.  We need 1900 miles of chain link fence.  That's 10 million feet.  I haven't priced fence lately, but I bet you could put it up for $10 a foot.  So $100 million for the fence.  Guess that the road (dirt, just good enough to get thru with a jeep) might cost the same.   Buy twenty light aircraft at $100,000 apiece ($2 million)  and you could fly over every part of the fence every hour.   Let's assume the current ICE force can handle the arresting and patroling with their current appropriation. 
   So, we are talking  maybe $202 million startup costs.  Lets assume the ICE budget can handle manpower and maintenance. 
   Gee, we haven't every gotten to a $ billion yet.  "A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon you are talking about real money" said Everett Dirksen a long time ago.  So far we only have a fifth of a billion.  Long way to go before we are talking real money.