Construction Starts on Trump-Style Border Barrier

U.S. Customs and Border Protection ^ | February 21, 2018 | U.S. Customs and Border Protection

[TheConservativeTejano]

Partner, u r so correct in that they had better have some of the tunnel instrumentation installed in place to detect any underground activity of building tunnels.

These Mexican Drug Cartels are notorious for doing whatever it takes to cross over the Illegal drugs since this is their biggest money makers.

I would have never thought that the Mexican Drug Cartels are also involved in Human Traffic Smuggling into the U.S.A. They do not make as much money but it does bring them hard currency.

I have heard that once they are across the border with the drugs that they go to safe houses where an illegal lives and the drugs are then transported to their destination.

Amazing illegal criminal activity that goes on along our southern Border. This has been going on every single day along a bunch of towns on our southern Border. It needs to stop immediately.

[Eleutheria5]

Great. G-d speed.

[PhiloBedo]

I stayed in EL Centro last weekend. Did you know that you cannot receive any English speaking stations, on FM, in El Centro? There is a news talk on FM from San Diego, but it’s a very weak signal.

[NorthMountain]

A good first step toward common sense border control ... It’s for the children. If it saves even one life, it’s worth it.

[Big Red Badger]

Wish I was in Tijuana...

[Big Red Badger]

Wish I was in Tijuana...

[Big Red Badger]

Eating Barbeque Iguana!

[BeauBo]

“Did you know that you cannot receive any English speaking stations, on FM, in El Centro?”

...and that the least diverse city in the United States is Laredo Texas - more than 95% Mexican-American, but jammed with additional illegal Mexicans as well.

A good border barrier transformed San Diego near the border - dramatically raising property values, stimulating local businesses, and resulted in crime rates plummeting. We will see this replicated again and again in cities and towns across the border.

One of the great things about Trump’s Border barrier plan, is that it tackles the most important parts first, rather than the easiest mileage, like they did before.

[Hillbilly sage]

Why can we not use the Seabees for wall construction? They can build anything anywhere, they are already on the payroll and are trained to defend themselves and their project.

They have been working in Cambodia, Mexico, Ukraine, Guam, so why not the border.

[PhiloBedo]

well said!

[wastedyears]

The project, which includes a bridge over the river, is expected to take 300 days.

You cannot be serious.

[wastedyears]

[BeauBo]

“Why can we not use the Seabees for wall construction?”

We could use SeaBees, or Army Engineer units, but they are generalists. With a competition, we can get the best specialists, and choose the best new technologies from all of the industry. Companies that do a high volume of such work often can provide better value overall - there are a lot of costs involved in using military units for labor, far beyond the cost of materials.

If we were to use military units, they would have to pulled away from their normal responsibilities, leaving the units they normally support less ready for their missions.

The Army Corps of Engineers manages most of the their domestic construction projects as commercial contracting efforts. They have standing contracts, like the MATOC for Horizontal Construction contracts, which cover all the sectors of the Mexican Border. Task Orders can be let on those contracts as desired - just add money, and have the customer (DHS/CBP) tell them exactly what they want.

[BeauBo]

“The project, which includes a bridge over the river, is expected to take 300 days.”

This “project” just covers the segment being discussed - 2.25 miles of 30 foot Bollard Barrier and paved Patrol Road in Calexico, California.

The border barrier is contracted out segment by segment. Because they don’t have much money yet (just using their routine maintenance budget right now), they are just contracting to patch the very worst holes in the border, where crossings and drug traffic is the worst.

If we were to get full funding, the whole 1,000 or so miles that Trump is proposing to build would take several years.
Doing a thousand miles in two Presidential terms would be a serious challenge. It would require a pace of about 12 miles per month. For comparison, the segment contracted in Calexico is less than a quarter of a mile per month. It is possible, but it would be a big effort.

One of the best things with the Trump plan is that they prioritize the segments that produce the biggest impact first. Even if the effort doesn’t get completed, it will be maximally effective for the money/time invested.

[Does so]

Did you know that you cannot receive any English speaking stations, on FM, in El Centro?

South Florida is not much better. Tune through the AM dial to see how pervasive foreign languages are. Haitian and Brazilian-Portuguese stations abound, including TV.

[Jonny7797]

this is excellent. Ann Coulter can now change her annoying little tweet that she puts out daily about no miles of border wall built today.

[Sam Gamgee]

What if an outside organization raised funds from a campaign called “ Patriots for the Border Wall?”. Would Trump be able to use THAT money, or would the Supreme Court consider that abusing his role as POTUS?