There is quite a bit of secondary barrier going in where there was no secondary barrier before - Calexico, Ca; Tecate, CA; Andrade, CA (a suburb of Yuma, AZ); Yuma/San Luis, AZ; and a long stretch (I think 32 miles) along the Air Force’s Barry Goldwater Range in Arizona.
Whenever they get a secondary barrier, it is a complete System upgrade, with a heavily improved, alarmed and monitored “enforcement zone” between the two barriers. The whole system is very powerful protection - far beyond what is seen almost anywhere else in the world, where the border is not an active Military confrontation.
Calexico used to lead the Nation in assaults on Border Patrol Officers. The first layer (Primary Barrier) of thirty foot bollards (with lights, cameras and road) caused that to immediately plummet about 85%. After the Secondary Barrier completes this year, it is going to be a virtual dead zone for illegal activity. Local Mexican teens could hop the old landing mat in literally a matter of seconds, and sprint into the nearby outlet mall in less than one minute. Soon it will require a team of circus acrobats with special equipment to cross illegally there. Door closed. Even if it “merely replaces” pre-existing barrier, it solves the actual problem.
In my opinion, the Bush-era (Secure Fence Act) wall building Program fell prey to the political temptation to just rack up miles to brag about, even if the design was a cheap, quick and dirty job, that would not make a real operational difference. Most of it needs to be re-done, to really gain operational control of the border. I have not seen that with the Trump Program. In fact, President Trump took a lot of heat from his base because of a slow start, while things were carefully analyzed, designed, planned, and prioritized; before the heavy concrete was poured. It is a lot more optimal bang for the buck, but it took some political courage to do it right.
Beyond the barrier itself, a very aggressive technology fielding is occurring. Although about half the length of the Arizona border is currently funded for Trump-style Super Barrier (New Mexico too) before the 2020 Military-funded segments are even announced, the whole length of the Arizona border is already funded for persistent fixed surveillance under the Integrated Fixed Towers Program - itself just one of several layers of technology now being fielded.
Technology is rolling out faster than barrier, in mileage terms. Since the cost is generally 1/1,000th that of barrier per mile, it falls under the radar (little pun there) of most news reporting.
On top of DHS’ technology programs, DoD is layering its own pretty comprehensive situational awareness (surveillance, identification and tracking) capability on the border, and is a Government leader in integrating such multiple sensor systems into a single common operational picture, which can be shared Inter-Agency with Law Enforcement and Intelligence.
It seems that Military Predator drone units have been permanently established at several locations along the Southern Border, in addition to enhancing the sensor suite of prior (like Aerostat blimps) and other newly resourced (satellite?) Military resources.
The same unified command (USNORTHCOM) that monitors our Air and Space frontiers through its subordinate NORAD, also commands and controls component forces now dedicated to the Southern Border, and can host liaisons from DHS in their Operations Centers, and provide real time data feeds to support Law Enforcement operations like apprehensions, back up and MEDEVAC.
Also interesting. Again, thanks. I would of course prefer a border that stops them cold without setting foot on the legal morass that is US soil, but so it goes.
I like this: “The same unified command (USNORTHCOM) that monitors our Air and Space frontiers through its subordinate NORAD, also commands and controls component forces now dedicated to the Southern Border...”