Our border-security dialogue has a gaping hole in it

Trump is right. Holes in the wall can be fixed. I bet the same hardware store that sells power saws also has duct tape.

What will not be so easy to fix is the gigantic hole in America's border security dialogue. The issue isn't black and white. It's possible to want a secure border and still doubt that a giant wall will get the job done. And it's possible to oppose a border wall without being in favor of an open border.

Often, the folks who feel strongest about securing the U.S.-Mexico border live the farthest away from it. Visit a small town in Iowa, and you'll hear residents express concern about migrants and drug cartels. But talk to Texans who live in one of the towns that dot the border, and you'll hear them describe the Mexicans on the other side not as invaders but neighbors.

Another thing you'll find in those border towns is a healthy skepticism about whether Trump's border wall will ever materialize as advertised -- a seamless 12-feet-high barrier stretching along the nearly 2,000-mile corridor from San Diego, California, to Brownsville, Texas. Supposedly, the structure was going to seal the border tight as a drum and keep out the two things that Americans desire most from Mexico -- migrants and drugs.

As some of us have said all along, Trump's "big beautiful wall" is a foolish waste of money. The determined, downtrodden and desperate will get over, around, under or through any barrier we put up.

Americans need to get over the wall. We're in a war with smugglers, all right. But it's not medieval combat. It's a high-tech battle of wits. Instead of spending $25 billion on a border wall, we could get a greater return by spending half as much on censors, computers and other forms of electronic surveillance.

We need 21st-century solutions, not a symbolic throwback to the 12th century. While we're stuck in the past, smugglers only get stronger. Whatever barrier we put up, they will continue to charge their clients more for having to go to the trouble of getting past it. Someone has to pay for the power tools.

Meanwhile, at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building -- which is next to the White House -- there was recently a Halloween party for administration officials and their children. It featured a station where children were encouraged to help "Build the Wall" with personalized bricks.

That story gave me an idea. Let's fire the contractors we have at the U.S.-Mexico border and get some of these kids down there to construct the real thing. It couldn't hurt. Because apparently, for smugglers, getting past Trump's big beautiful wall is child's play.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.