Proposed southern border wall

You have probably heard about the proposed border wall that may go up along the U.S./Mexico border.  How much wall needs to be built? How much will that cost? What is that per mile? Per foot? What else could you buy with that much money?  What is the impact of this wall on people, the economy and environment? When implementing the activity consider the sensitivity and controversial nature of this topic.  This is an opportunity to integrate current events, politics and social issues into math class. To start the activity you might do the first two questions immediately before handing out the activity sheet.  

The activity requires a lot of different math skills such as fractions, decimals and percents, as well as basic math operations.  This could be a good opportunity to get older students reviewing a variety of math skills.