Catch and release ends next week!
Only four attempts to breach the new bollards have been made - all failed. (The old Secondary Barrier (which was the tougher one of the two), was routinely breached (cut through) about two to three times a day.) Strong concrete is specified in the bollards - 5,000 lbs minimum compressive strength flirts with the threshold of special purpose high-strength concretes. The two very thick rebars (Apparently over an inch thick) in each bollard also have a "very strong" specification. (The rebar is positioned in a very deliberate pattern, apparently a conscious design feature)
What used to be 300-500 apprehensions per day in San Diego City, has already fallen to 30-50 per day - and those arrests are only in places where the secondary is not yet complete. It is due to complete in January.
After that, illegal traffic in the sector will be going around the wall, rather than over or through it - door closed.
(On 3 Sep, SecDef announced that Military Construction money is going to be used to further extend the San Diego Primary and Secondary barriers about three miles further East, up over Otay Mountain, where no barrier existed before, to close the gap to the next run of pre-existing bollards. The cartels that fought to control San Diego traffic, like the Sinaloa Cartel, are going to lose their whole business there.)
Now the official count is 66 miles complete. 251 more miles in various stages of construction at 17 sites and contracts for 163 miles (262 kilometers) planned in the next 90 days. According to LTG Semonite, additional miles are also in the currently funded pipeline, but will take longer due to the acquisition of private land.
Currently, 270 panels are installed per day - that would be 2.835 miles per week, based on 7 days a week; or a touch over 2 miles per week based on 5 days per week.
Although not definitively quantified, LTG Semonite alluded to a coming large increase in the number of crews that will be working simultaneously. Although not a precise correlation, he spoke of 35 jobs, and that some contractors would use multiple crews on particular jobs. (In my estimation, it would therefore be possible that the pace of construction might peak toward two miles per day at some point, and that a mile per day will be common next year.)
Also new and significant, the President spoke about a pause to re-assess barrier needs somewhere around 400-500 miles of wall - see how actual traffic shifts shape up (e.g. some people had estimated that Laredo, Texas might get more diverted traffic, but Del Rio, Texas saw a surprising surge).
(There was an implication that possibly 450-550 miles of this kind of barrier, might end up being all that is needed. The comprehensive plan called for 1,100 miles of barrier, but in places with double barrier, that would be half as many linear miles. So far, San Diego, Tecate, Calexico, Andrade and the Goldwater Test Range (31 miles just there) are already designated for double barrier construction.)
(The President might just be floating a new position during the Congressional debate over next year’s funding - which is likely to extend into the next fiscal year with continuing resolution funding for a few months. So it might also signal that he he is preparing an escape position, if no more funding comes through. But my take is that it is just objective good management to aim before shooting, and adjust fire as the enemy moves.)
(It is also possible that the re-assessment might just re-order the priority list for barrier construction, and not so much the total requirement.)
