Trump’s starting to win big on controlling the southern border

NY Post ^ | 13 Sep 2019 | Jonathan S. Tobin

[9YearLurker]

Cruz has rightly sounded the alarm on Texas coming in to play—and that will be a tipping point that can’t be overcome. How is Trump doing with ejecting the 40 million illegals in the country already?

[simpson96]

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[Big Red Badger]

Heck Yes!

Thanks!

[FormerFRLurker]

“While no one expects Mexico to pay for Trump’s wall...”

Then why did President Trump say they would?

[BeauBo]

Percent complete on these projects, does not equate with miles complete.

They have to submit a work breakdown structure to the Government Contracting Officer, and then tick off tasks to receive their periodic progress payments.

A lot of their tasks are preliminary work, like surveys, design, site prep, equipment and material staging.

For example, the 63 miles recently started in Arizona, is reported as 43% complete, but they only anticipate having two miles standing by October 1st.

[BeauBo]

“why no projected wall from just past El Paso to just past Laredo?”

Pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order 13767, January 25, 2017, DHS developed a comprehensive plan to achieve full operational control of the Southern Border. That plan calls for $25 billion over five years, to build about 1,100 miles of barrier, create thousands of new full time positions, and for several technology programs.

Full details of the plan are not publicly available (classified), but it includes a painstaking prioritization of each segment of the border barrier to be constructed. We don’t find out officially what the priorities are, until they announce that a particular segment is being funded (as money becomes available).

So far, out of the 529 miles that have been announced, 52 miles will be in the area of your interest. Those 52 will run North from the Laredo Colombia Port of Entry, and will be funded with the Military Construction money under the emergency declaration. This was just announced this month, and has not yet been contracted.

Traditionally, the three corridors of heaviest illegal traffic are the Rio Grande Valley, San Diego and Yuma. All of them, and more, are getting built out of existing funding.

In addition to raw numbers for traffic, they also have Intelligence on the cartels facing the various sectors of the border, and work to address those threats.

So it just turns out that the area you are looking at was not among the very highest priorities, for the first dollars - but we likely have another 600 miles or so left to hear about.

I anticipate that Congress will appropriate the $1.4 billion in the ten year baseline budget for 2020, and think it likely to go for the Laredo sector - the biggest city left on the border without significant barrier, likely to receive the shifting traffic from the Rio Grande Valley as it gets buttoned up next year, and a cartel hotbed (including Los Zetas).

Beyond that, I think we can anticipate the Trump Administration continuing to be resourceful, in finding more resources. They are requesting a total of $8.6 billion for 2020 ($5 billion in direct appropriation through DHS). That much money would put them in the ballpark for contracting all the rest of the barrier in the Comprehensive Plan.

I anticipate that if they get full funding, we would likely see basically continuous barrier from Falcon Lake, South of Laredo, to Box Canyon/Amistad Reservoir, North of Del Rio; as well as another long stretch running South from El Paso.

Beyond the barrier deployment though, we also have technology deployment (like the old “Virtual Wall” concept). Every mile of the border needs to be constantly monitored, whether there is barrier or not. Just as the Barrier Program is just hitting full scale deployment this year, so are the technology programs.

Pretty much everywhere you see new barrier, there is new technology as well. But technology will be expanding faster than barrier, covering areas beyond the barriers.

The plan is that every mile will be monitored, with tracking/intercept capability adequate to prevent intruders from being able to get away (”disappear” is the term the use). So that is intended for every mile.

[Truthoverpower]

Our great and wonderful president , Donald J Trump, is a doer

politicians are talkers

[traderrob6]

Thank you,.....A very comprehensive answer and it’s appreciated.

Probably not just coincidence, but I noticed the area I remarked had not been covered under existing “public” building plans is also the border area encompassing the Rio Grande river.

[Fhios]

Mexico is paying for the wall.

Who expected Mexico to just cut a check to the U.S for wall reimbursement? I never ever believed that they would literally pay for it. They’re paying for in other more obscure ways.

[5th MEB]

If you think about it they are paying in a way, their increased enforcement at their southern boarder has got to be costing them money.
Plus the fact that they have to support the ILLEGAL ALIENS while they are in their country has to cost a few pesos.
Not enough pesos in my opinion, but every little bit helps.

[BeauBo]

The Rio Grande Valley, south of Falcon Lake, is getting mostly done with the 2018 and 2019 appropriations (probably some money from the Treasury Department asset forfeiture account as well). They had the longest delays of anywhere down there, because there were over 400 private landowners to be settled with financially. It is roughly 100 new miles, where there was no barrier before.

It looks like they are about to get going, in the next few weeks. A bit less than half of the miles there will be massive FEMA Hurricane-rated Levee Wall.

Congressional appropriators mandated five gaps to remain (5-10 miles total), but Border Patrol and tech will concentrate in those gaps.

[BeauBo]

The whole Texas border (about 1,250 miles) is the middle of the Rio Grande.

That makes barrier much more challenging, especially considering erosion, changing path of the river over time, flooding and hurricanes. International treaty governs any construction that could divert floodwaters. In some places the levees(where the barrier ends up) is over a mile in from the river, walling off fields and houses on the Southside (they get gates with keypad codes).

In New Mexico, Arizona and California; the first sixty feet have been reserved for the Federal Government since Teddy Roosevelt.

In Texas, the riverbank is overwhelmingly privately owned. For those reasons, it has always been harder and more expensive to build barrier in Texas.

[gbaker]

It may well turn out to be his longest lasting legacy. He has completely ripped away the facade of the left wing slime and their cohorts in the media.//

I’m torn between his longest lasting legacy being the judges he picks or training/showing the GOP how to fight back against the media/DNC. So far the second is missing the mark.

[PGalt]

HOORAY Chief

[Oatka]

We really need to get help in congress for DJT.

That's why, until lately when it came to pass, I had been Tweeting him to hold a few rallies on the West Coast in order to . . .
1) Panic the Democrats into spending camaign money in a "safe" state, and more importantly . . .
2) Invigorate the "abandoned" conservatives to come out and vote in enough numbers to coat-tail some Republican Congressmen.

[CedarDave]

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[1Old Pro]

Omar was very upset and said so in the softball interview on Face the nation with that scowling broad hostess.

[SteveH]

Avanza construcción del segundo muro entre Tijuana y San Diego

Araceli Martínez Ortega
27 de Agosto 2019

La Opinion

https://laopinion.com/2019/08/27/avanza-construccion-del-segundo-muro-entre-tijuana-y-san-diego/

[BeauBo]

Very different tone in that article, from what the Mexican press was saying a couple of years back. Gone is all the cocky "30 foot wall, 31 foot ladder" talk. The reality of it has been sobering.

The wall system going in to San Diego is going to shut down traffic there cold. They now see it first hand - insurmountable obstacles.

At yesterday's press briefing at the wall, the DHS Secretary reported that apprehensions in San Diego have already dropped 90%. They are now only where the new secondary has not yet been finished (its scheduled for January).

The author did not seem to be aware that the end of the new fence, which they referenced several times (Hint, Hint: its in this neighborhood, not far from houses, here's a picture), has already had a further extension approved. To be built next year. Both the primary and the secondary barriers (and the monitored enforcement zone) will go miles further into the wilderness over Otay Mountain, where the primary will meet up with the next run of existing bollards to the East.