Posted on 08/26/2019 10:27:57 AM PDT by RightGeek
NEW wall is what we need, start building where there is no current wall!
“NEW wall is what we need, start building where there is no current wall!”
What is currently called a “border wall” can mean anything that acts as an impediment even if it is not effective. If the border wall is currently a barbed wire fence that would only keep cattle out I would consider its 30’ tall replacement new wall but the left will try to paint it as no improvement at all.
“I really wish they would focus on AZ and TX.”
Around election time next year, we should be completing the build of 26 miles around Yuma, Arizona, and another 63 miles at the top of the priority list elsewhere in Arizona. That is a third of Arizona’s whole border with top of the line new barrier system, and Nogales already had bollards. Also, the whole of the 262 mile Arizona border will be coming under persistent surveillance (so-called “Virtual Wall”).
Arguably, Arizona is the biggest winner among border States, in terms of the percentage of border being brought under effective operational control, during President Trump’s first term. We will have to wait for results to judge who does best in terms of total traffic reductions and crime reductions, but Arizona might end up leading there as well (San Diego really skews California’s stats, and it is getting a Fort Knox makeover).
Texas is by far the biggest (around 1,250 miles), toughest (by far) and most expensive challenge. With this year’s money (2019), they will be contracting 95 miles in the Rio Grande Valley, which will transform that super high traffic area - over 40% of the illegal traffic across the whole Southern Border.
Laredo, Eagle Pass and Del Rio together urgently need at least another 100-150 miles to do a decent job for the State. I am hopeful that either next year’s appropriation, or the money (around $4 billion) that is still uncommitted from the Emergency declaration (pending lawsuit resolution), will address these remaining major critical gaps.
A huge technology roll out is needed for Texas as well. The Integrated Fixed Tower Program that is covering Arizona has been in the works for years for those sectors. Texas would take a while (years) to install that system. They are looking at other options there, that could deploy more quickly, like the system from Anduril, which has been tested there.
Texas is a multi-year challenge, but Arizona is getting buttoned up pretty well next year.
President Trump has a realistic and detailed approach to gain full operational control of the Southern Border, but it will require a second term, and continued funding, to complete.
“NEW wall is what we need, start building where there is no current wall!”
Customs and Border Protection had to analyze the hell out of Border traffic to justify their budget requests, and answer the twenty questions from every naysayer on Congressional staff. They know where the barrier is most needed, based on actual operational data.
Not much sense in building some “new” barrier in isolated desert, while caravans are rushing across in the border cities. When the Trump style “replacement” barrier is put in, it goes in as as a whole suite of improvements - what they call “Wall System”. It includes strong barrier that meets the anti-climb, anti-breach (including vehicle ramming), and anti-tunneling functional requirements - but it also includes a whole lot more.
All the Trump style “Wall System” includes sensors/alarms, surveillance and patrol/response road (stadium lighting in urban areas). It is a comprehensive package, designed to bring that area under effective operational control.
The great bulk of illegal traffic is in the border cities, and the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. So that is the top of the priority list, and where they invested the early money. All the high traffic areas had some kind of barrier before - except the Rio Grande Valley.
In the Rio Grande Valley, the shifting course of the River, and the flood control considerations (Governed by ratified International Treaty), subject to Hurricanes off the Gulf of Mexico; make construction especially challenging and expensive.
Also, sixty feet from the border in California, Arizona and New Mexico has long been under Federal control (the “Roosevelt Reservation”), whereas the riverbank in Texas is widely owned by individual property owners. That is why the great bulk of “new” miles, that are an operational priority to build, are in the Rio Grande Valley (and later, further back up the river, like Laredo). It was just too hard to get anything at all built there in the past.
Today (26 August), is the end of the public comment period on Customs and Border Protection’s plans for construction in the Rio Grande Valley. They have money in hand, and have announced plans for 95 miles there - enough to transform that huge problem area (over 40% of the illegal traffic of the whole Southern Border).
If typical past time frames apply, we can expect contracts to be dropping in 2-3 months, and construction starting about 3 months later. Five contracts have already been awarded in the Valley. Next year, multiple crews will be building those high priority “new miles”. Some will be underway this year (some prep activity is already underway).
Outside of the Rio Grande Valley, most of the “new” miles that we will see, are mainly just small gaps of rough terrain being filled. The towering new secondary barrier in San Diego (scheduled to be complete in January), will include about 1 1/2 miles that were previously left open, with only a single layer of “landing mat” fence.
They already have replaced the landing mat primary barrier with 18-30 foot bollards, and the whole secondary barrier will be 30 foot bollards. The enforcement zone between the barriers has been extensively cleared of vegetation and graded, and has had upgraded patrol road, stadium lighting, and a host of alarms, sensors and surveillance installed.
This dramatic transformation of the biggest city on the border, has been pooh-poohed by the left-wing media, as “replacement fencing” in an attempt to mislead and demoralize.
The first 300-400 miles on the priority list (border cities and the Rio Grande Valley) account for the great bulk of current traffic - over 80%. President Trump, despite everything mustered against him, has secured the funding, and will have that built or on contract before the election next year.
In total, Border Patrol only sees the need for about 1,100 miles of barrier in total - terrain that is passable in 4WD vehicles, or within a days’s walk of urban areas or roads. The whole of the border is required to be under persistent surveillance (to achieve reliable detection), and to have response capability capable of interception before intruders can disappear (seconds or minutes in a city, days in the wilderness).
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