In 2006, Congress passed the Secure Fence Act.

This law provided for 600 miles of secure fencing along our southern border.  Most Democrats voted in favor of that law.  Today, many of these same Democrats have said President Trump's call for a border wall is immoral and a waste of money.  The hypocrisy is stunning.  These same Democrats claim to be in favor of border security and even voted for it in the past.  Yet they would rather keep the government partially shut down than provide a modest five billion dollars for a border barrier.

In the grand scheme of a federal budget, the 5.7 billion dollars President Trump has requested is a pittance.  In fact, he should have asked for a lot more.  But Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer would rather keep the government shut down than provide this modest amount of funding for border security.

Let's be clear.  This isn't about saving the taxpayer's money.  Pelosi and Schumer have not become fiscal conservatives overnight.  And this isn't about whether a border barrier is effective or not – they've already voted for border barriers in the past.  This is about politics, plain and simple. They know that if President Trump gets a border barrier of some sort, a "wall," it makes him harder to defeat in 2020.  They also know that if they give in and provide any money for the wall, it will enrage their leftist base.

The question is, will a border wall work?  The answer is yes and no.  A border wall in and of itself is definitely not enough.  In order to fully and permanently secure our southern border, we must have an "all of the above" approach.  We need more border patrol agents on the ground, more technology, more detention beds, more immigration judges, and we also need better interior enforcement.  We need to pass a national E-Verify law that would punish employers who hire illegal aliens.  We also need to pass Kate's Law – named after Kate Steinle, who was killed by an illegal alien who had been previously deported five times – which would punish illegal aliens who re-enter the country after being deported.

And yes, in addition to all of that, we need a "wall."  Border barriers work.  Call it a fence.  Call it a wall.  Call it a barrier.  Call it whatever you want, but if we're actually serious about securing our southern border once and for all, it's absolutely necessary as part of an overall border security package.

Dozens of countries all over the world have border walls.  In Israel, suicide bombings were practically a weekly occurrence.  Once Israel built a border wall along the West Bank, suicide bombings decreased substantially.  Today, you'd be hard pressed to hear of any suicide bombings in Israel at all.  After the migrant crisis in Europe in 2015-2016, Hungary also built a wall and had similar results.  Today, you will not find any illegal migrants in Hungary.  India too is building a fence along large portions of its border with Bangladesh.

Why is it that so many countries have built, or are building, border walls?  Simple: They work.

Unfortunately, both parties have failed the American people when it comes to border security.  For their part, Republicans had full control of all of Congress for two years, yet they did virtually nothing to get money for a border barrier.  And why should they?   There is a wealthy corporate wing of the Republican Party that wishes to exploit cheap immigrant labor, so those people did nothing to get a wall built.  And what about the Democrats?  They're the worst of hypocrites, opposing the very thing they claim to support, the very thing they voted for in the past.  They'd rather play politics with our nation's security and our citizens' safety.

It's time for both parties to get serious about our nation's border security.  President Trump is right.  Build the damn wall!

Timothy Rosen is a practicing attorney and college professor from New York.  He is the author of 101 Ways to Save America.  You can follow him on Twitter @RosenIsRight.