Watch that new border wall going up where it is needed most
Congress still refuses to fund a complete border wall, but that isn’t stopping the king of construction, Donald J. Trump, from delivering the goods where it is needed most. The El Paso Times has provided an entertaining and interesting video of construction of a new, much bigger border wall being built on the border separating the metropolises of Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas, with a combined metropolitan population of at least 2.7 million souls. In an environment of scarcity, priorities must always be established, and the most densely populated areas should pay the greatest dividends in limiting the prospects of border-jumpers. San Diego and Tijuana, along with El Paso and Juarez are ground zero.
The Hill reposts the El Paso Times video and notes:
“In fiscal year 2017, El Paso Sector apprehended 25,193 illegal aliens, seized 34,189 pounds of marijuana and 140 pounds of cocaine,” the release continued. "Additionally during that fiscal year, there were 54 assaults against El Paso Sector agents.”
The agency said it contracted West Point Contractors of Tucson, Ariz., on June 1 to build the barrier.
(screen grabs from El Paso Times video)
As for San Diego, the New York Post reports construction there is already underway:
A 14-mile section of President Trump’s border wall is under construction in San Diego, at a cost of $147 million.
The money comes from the omnibus spending bill that Trump signed in March. The legislation included a $1.6 billion down payment on the “great, great” wall that – Trump promised throughout his presidential campaign – would stretch across the nation’s southern border.
The San Diego wall will reach up to 30 feet high, topped with a sheer vertical “anti-climbing plate” that offers no hand- or footholds for illicit border crossers.
It will replace a long stretch of 8-to-10-foot-high metal fencing that was built in the 1990s out of scrap metal and repurposed steel plates. Rusted and wobbly in places, the old wall has been no match for drug smugglers and human traffickers.
Instead of waiting for a comprehensive bill funding a new wall, President Trump is doing what a businessman does: making the best use of the limited resources at his disposal.