Economic consequences of building a cross-country barrier among alternative policies to deal with unauthorized immigration

•Many countries face the question of how to deal with unauthorized immigration.•Israel provides a rare test case for the consequences of building a border barrier.•We document that the establishment of a border barrier stopped unauthorized entries.•In contrast, detentions and voluntary relocations to other countries were ineffective.•The barrier’s cost equals an estimated 10-year public spending on the avoided entries.