The truth about Trump's "wall"

Journalists see it as a slam dunk to report that President Trump has only completed a fraction of the construction of the "wall" of the southern border that he had promised because, Hahaha, his followers are they not a bunch of greedy for having thought he would succeed one day ?!

But as with most media reports about immigration, they are either deliberately misleading or completely misleading.

the Washington Post reported this week that the administration "has completed about 60 miles of" replacement "barrier during the first two years of Trump's presidency, all located in areas previously endowed with border infrastructure". Several paragraphs later, the report stated that miles of fences "are simply" in the form of a plan. "

It's true, but not really. So here's the truth about the "wall".

First of all, there is no wall and there will never be a wall. There are only "walls", which already exist in many places along the border, and which, according to the border patrol agents, can effectively control the area. immigration. I myself saw the "walls" during my visit to the Texas border earlier this year and the administration made the right decision by building others, where about 10 miles of new walls were built this year.

Secondly, when the media specifically refers to "completed" border walls, they exclude dozens of kilometers of wall that are not simply "in the form of a master plan", but to which federal money is already allocated for their construction and which are already planned building. But it's not as if a group of entrepreneurs were waiting for the necessary authorization to start the process. Many of the borderless border areas are private lands owned by US citizens whose permission is required for the government to do anything. Even if the EPA can not come to your home and install a huge solar panel in your yard without asking, the government can not erect a fence that belongs to someone else. Before the construction of more walls can begin, the administration will first have to reach an agreement with the landowners, which could mean either buying them a property or receiving permission. to build barriers.

Third, "replacement barrier" is an expression that should never be used about the border. When the administration "replaces" the barriers at the border, it is not as if they are exchanging a wire fence for the same thing. There are long stretches of land at the border with gates, but no one would have honestly described them as "walls". These were vehicle gates (sometimes called Normandy fences) of about 5 feet in height and intended to prevent the passage of cars and trucks, not people on foot. In New Mexico, for example, 20 vehicle gates have been replaced by real "walls", 25 or 30-foot steel gates. (You can see a side-by-side comparison of the vehicle barrier and its "replacement" here.)

Finally, since I had been lamenting for months, even though we had a gigantic and continuous wall at the border, it would not have helped to detain and kidnap a fraction of the million illegal immigrants up to present this year. who have crossed into the country. By the end of July, nearly 700,000 illegal immigrants had been apprehended at the border. More than 500,000 of them applied for asylum or were unaccompanied minors. All of them immediately benefit from legal protection allowing them to stay in the United States while their cases are settled, which can take up to five years.

This is the truth about the "wall".