Just to be clear, this is new wall, correct? Doesn’t include all the repair/upgraded wall work done out in San Diego and other places?
“Just to be clear, this is new wall, correct? Doesn’t include all the repair/upgraded wall work done out in San Diego and other places?”
No. This is total miles of Wall System during the Trump Administration.
These are official numbers from the Border Patrol. The Administration does not recognize significance of the distinction between “new” and “replacement” miles.
Their view is that if you do new construction, that is new (just as the terms are applied in other walks of life). They go by a carefully analyzed priority list, of where effective barrier is most needed, regardless of if there is something there or not. If illegal traffic is flowing through a segment of the border, it needs a new barrier (regardless of if some ineffective barrier is there).
Of the 654 miles of barrier that existed when President Trump took office, only 221 are assessed as being effective. Since those barriers were placed in priority locations, replacement of about 433 miles of ineffective barrier is a much higher priority (for real operational control of the border), than building “new” barrier along the great bulk of the border.
For those who just want to see “new” miles, regardless of its actual effectiveness in controlling illegal traffic, the projects that have now started in the Rio Grande Valley will be building “new” barrier, every week from here on out. Just over 100 such “new” miles have been contracted there, and over 100 more upriver have already been designated for contracting with already available funds.
The DoD money from this year’s budget, expected to be approved by the SecDef this week, will likely include more “new” miles.
Just to be clear. Both.
It's all new wall, some times it replaces old wall that is worn out and ineffective.
They are putting it where the Border Patrol wants to put first to be most effective at stopping border crossings.