Statistical analysis is a great tool for objective research. Numerical data can often provide useful insight when making policy decisions. But not everything is a math problem. And sometimes the statistically improbable course of action is the best one.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, economists<\/a> sometimes address unquantifiable concerns about the social and cultural effects of unchecked mass migration with numerical analysis. Alex Nowrasteh<\/a>, of the Cato Institute loves reducing complex immigration issues to misleading mathematical equations, then proclaiming that he has led us all from darkness into the light of unerring truth.<\/p>\n Now, in an essay that is offensively insensitive<\/a>, Mr. Nowrasteh argues that the recent murder of Border Patrol agent Rogelio Martinez is not a valid reason for building a border wall or increasing spending on border security.<\/p>\n Why? Because, according to Mr. Nowrasteh, before we do anything rash, like securing our borders against foreign incursion, we must assess \u201chow many Border Patrol agents are murdered in the line of duty\u201d in order to determine \u201chow deadly [their]occupation really is.\u201d Translated into English, that means it\u2019s okay to gamble with the lives of our immigration enforcement officers, as long as only a few of them die while doing their jobs.<\/p>\n That\u2019s an absurd proposition. There should never be an acceptable number of Border Patrol agents killed in the line of duty \u2013 ever! It\u2019s also a proposition derived from a series of false comparisons:<\/p>\n Common sense tends to indicate that a physical barrier<\/a> on the southern border would lower the likelihood of Border Patrol agents being killed. After all, if illegal aliens can\u2019t get across the border, they generally can\u2019t assault the officers we have hired to police our frontiers. It may not be a \u201c<\/span>one stop\u201d solution but it is a step in the right direction. \u00a0Most Americans <\/span>understand that intuitively<\/a>. That\u2019s why they elected President Trump.<\/span><\/p>\n So Mr. President, focus on the numbers that really matter \u2013 18 feet high or 30 feet high \u2013 and build that wall! \n