Feds move to replace US border barriers in New Mexico

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | January 22, 2018 | AP

[CedarDave]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Trump administration announced Monday it was preparing to replace existing vehicle barriers along a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border in New Mexico that officials call “an area of high illegal entry.”

The notice published in the Federal Register said the area extends around 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of the Santa Teresa Port of Entry.

According to the notice, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will replace the existing barriers with bollard walls to deter and prevent illegal crossings. Bollard walls are made up of sturdy, vertical posts that are spaced to provide visibility to the other side but are difficult to walk through

[CedarDave]

Short excerpt only due to restrictions on AP-sourced stories.

Other highlights:
The area targeted has rampant border violations. In 2016 the Border Patrol in this sector apprehended more than 25,000 illegal immigrants trying to enter the country and seized around 67,000 pounds of marijuana. Environmentalists are threatening to sue to stop the barriers saying "the border wall is a humanitarian and environmental disaster, and it won’t do anything to stop illegal drug or human smuggling.”

[CedarDave]

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[M Kehoe]

Winning is fun.

5.56mm

[Bobalu]

The wall needs to be taller!

[Col Frank Slade]

Are the vertical posts electrified and wrapped in razor wire coated with coyote excrement?

[DesertRhino]

” Bollard walls are made up of sturdy, vertical posts that are spaced to provide visibility to the other side but are difficult to walk through”

Why would i care about making sure Mexicans can look through the wall and stare at us?

[Rio]

Only the thin ones can get through?

[Paladin2]

Aerial pics seem to indicated that there is only a significant fence for a mile or so west of the crossing.

[smokingfrog]

could you make that a little bigger??????

[upchuck]

I see where you set the .gif height to 650. IMHO, you’d be better off setting the width to something below 900.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Why would i care about making sure Mexicans can look through the wall and stare at us?

I'm guessing that is so our border agents can see whether there is any hanky panky going on on the other side, such as tunnels, ladders, explosives, etc.

[TheNext]

Put automated drones there with an internet connection. Gamers can patrol our walls.

[big'ol_freeper]

So glad I came across this thread. I spent over 20 years in the Army and my favorite posting was at White Sands Missile Range. My wife, who I met years later, spent her college summers at Philmont as a period re-enactor at one of the camps. Both of us truly love your state. Someday we hope to move back and make a home there. God bless.

[MeganC]

My only objections to the Wall would include the lack of fixed weapons and a minefield.

[babygene]

If each alternate bollard were electrified with about 5,000 volts (low current as in a taser so as not to kill anyone), this might be effective...

[hanamizu]

Back in the early 70s I’d ride my motorcycle from El Paso into New Mexico and ride along the border. The border was marked with a four-wire barbed-wire fence and obelisk border markers every mile or so. There was an unmanned gate and a road leading into Mexico. This is pretty much the same area mentioned in the article. I guess I wouldn’t be able to ride there now.

[philman_36]

...replace existing vehicle barriers...

These work.

[Kartographer]

Replace them with what welcome signs and bus stops?

[Bobalu]

Good idea, thanks.

I’ll go with a width tag...

[Bobalu]

Here's a gif at 900 wide...looks fine...seems a bit smallish on my 50" monitor though.

Here's 1280...seems better, surely most folks have at least 1280 pixel width.

Here's a fun gif I found yesterday...lol