Now, Two Agents Per Every Mile?

   So, the Senate wants 20,000 more agents along the Mexico border -- 20,000? It might be worth a moment to consider how concentrated with agents that border already is. I will wonder if I've done my math correctly, because, if my math is correct that border is already so packed with agents, we should have pretty good coverage.
   Say we have 18,000 agents already there (and I am rather certain we have at least that many), with the Mexico border stretching 1,969 miles from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, having 18,000 agents (assuming they work eight-hour shifts) means there should be a pair of agents for every mile, around the clock.
   Let me repeat that: a pair of agents on patrol 24 hours a day for every mile. Perhaps some of them are office workers, then. At any rate, two agents for every mile is pretty good coverage, already, if that is what it is. It is not so tight of coverage that nobody can get across, but it does make me wonder that this is the most-crossed international border in the world. It makes me wonder how 250 million people a year are crossing back and forth. Perhaps that 250 million figure has dropped in recent years. I do not know.
   But, 250 million, if it is correct? Compare that to the U.S. population of about 309 million. Almost there is one crossing every year per every man, woman and child in the U.S. One thought is that many must be crossing the border multiple times.
   Will doubling an already tight border help? I do not know. The number of agents has already doubled in the past eight years -- and yet the number of apprehensions has declined. The old adage is that if you keep doing the same thing, you should expect the same results. If more agents hasn't solved the problem, why will yet more? Maybe it will, though. It does seem you eventually get to a point where the agents could stand still, look both ways, and spot someone trying to cross.