Federal spending on border security has accelerated in recent years. This includes spending on technology, on law enforcement agents, and on physical barriers.

This policy brief lays out a recent history of federal spending. It’s a tale of cost overruns, inefficiencies, duplication, profiteering, and other forms of waste.

As we conclude, “The common thread among the failures and wasteful projects are efforts to accelerate contracts and processes to meet a political imperative, rushed and incomplete cost estimates, and inadequate oversight.”