Border Wall

Border Wall Construction Begins in El Paso, Texas

Border Patrol officials in the El Paso Sector announced that construction of a new section of border wall began on Saturday. The new four-mile section of road will replace existing fencing near downtown El Paso. “This new wall will be far more durable and far more effective in deterring would-be illegal entrants,” El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Aaron A. Hull said in a statement obtained by Breitbart Texas. Chief Hull said crews will build a “bollard-style” design that will make the barrier more durable and harder to breach. West Point Contractors from Tucson, Arizona, won the contract to build this newest section of international border barrier for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The new wall will begin just west of the Paso Del Norte international bridge and extend about four miles to the east. Plans include removing the existing fencing and replacing it with an 18-foot high bollard wall. The project is expected to cost about $22 million and will be completed in late April 2019, officials stated. A crucial feature of the bollard-style wall is the ability for Border Patrol agents to see through the wall. “The bollard design wall has proved beneficial to the Border Patrol to detect illegal entries and the smuggling of narcotics into the United States by providing situational awareness of activity south of the wall,” officials stated. “U.S. Border Patrol agents are the most frequently assaulted and most frequently injured federal law enforcement officers,” Hull stated. “We’ve seen time and time again that the addition of serious infrastructure creates a safer environment for our people to operate. It also creates a safer community on both sides of the border.” El Paso Sector agents have been assaulted 54 times so far this fiscal year, officials reported. “It’s going to be harder to get over, harder to get through, harder to get underneath,” Hull explained. “It’s going to have a five-foot scaling plate at the top which will make it very tough for entrance — even if you can get to the top, to get over the top. It will deter all but the most determined of illegal entrants from entering the United States here.” “It’s going to make it harder to cross for illegal aliens,” the chief continued. “It’s going to make it harder for smugglers and border criminals to move freely between the two countries as they can now.” Hull said it will enable his sector to make more efficient use of its agents in this area and in other areas of the El Paso Sector. The El Paso Sector continues to experience a high number of illegal border crossings and apprehensions of illegal aliens. The August Southwest Border Migration Report revealed that El Paso Sector agents apprehended a total of 3,587 illegal aliens — including 1,884 Family Unit Aliens and 529 Unaccompanied Alien Children. In year-to-date numbers, the El Paso Sector reports a 16 percent increase in family units and 35 percent increase in unaccompanied minors. At least five illegal aliens have lost their lives during attempts to illegaly enter the U.S. this year, according to the Missing Migrant Project. The El Paso Sector wall is being built under the authority of President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 13767.

Finally!!!  The wall is being built, folks!!  It won’t happen overnight, of course.  But, this is a great first step!  Excellent!!    🙂

Border Patrol Agent: Trump’s wall is the best way to end to the humanitarian crisis on our southern border

If Democrats and the media elite truly cared about the safety of illegal immigrants, they’d be down on the border right now working to build the wall President Trump wants America to have. As a veteran Border Patrol agent, I know firsthand that a secure border with the big beautiful wall the president is building is the only humane and permanent solution to the crisis at the border. Despite Democratic obstruction, President Trump is building the wall now, and he will play hardball with Congress to ensure that the necessary funding to complete the wall is secured. Without a completed wall, thousands of illegal immigrants will continue to put their lives at risk. As long as people think they can cross the border illegally, they will continue to try. The journey is dangerous enough due to the natural conditions alone. Traveling hundreds or even thousands of miles on foot, often in extreme heat and without adequate water, is no easy trip for an adult – let alone for a child. But those who try to cross our southern border illegally are subject to much worse than just the elements – they are at the mercy of brutal criminal gangs. The illegal immigrant smuggling trade is dominated by predatory “coyotes” connected to Mexico’s worst drug cartels. They care little for the lives of their human cargo. These are the sorts of people who don’t think twice before leaving illegal immigrants to die in locked trailers under the desert sun. The coyotes’ control of human smuggling across the border results in routine violence, theft, and death, as well as the widespread rape of Central and South American women and girls. A 2014 Huffington Post report stated that 80 percent of illegal immigrant women and girls are raped during their travel. In addition to discouraging illegal border crossings and protecting desperate migrants from violence, rape and death, securing the border will save American taxpayers vast amounts of money. It will also free up the resources necessary to expedite legal immigration and review the ever-growing backlog of asylum claims. According to a 2017 study, the presence of illegal immigrants and their 4.2 million kids costs Americans roughly $135 billion in taxes at the federal, state, and local levels. That’s a tax burden of roughly $8,075 per illegal alien family member. Another recent report revealed that the federal government spent $1.4 billion just housing illegal immigrant unaccompanied minors, which works out to $670 per unaccompanied minor per day. President Trump is only requesting an additional $25 billion to complete his border wall – a one-time cost that is minor compared to the cost of illegal immigration. Building the wall will also solve the family separation issue. If families can’t enter illegally, then they won’t be separated while the adults await trial and sentencing. A wall would also funnel legitimate asylum seekers to proper ports of entry. True asylum seekers have no need to cross the border illegally. Securing the border once and for all won’t just protect desperate migrants from harm and save Americans money – it will also protect Americans from harm. The massive influx of unaccompanied minors across the border during the Obama administration brought with it a massive increase in MS-13 gang violence. Mexico’s cartels are also taking advantage of our porous border and flooding our communities with deadly drugs. Finally, there is also the terror threat. Border Patrol agents routinely apprehend Middle Eastern suspects trying to enter America illegally. The closer President Trump’s wall comes to completion, the closer we get to end the humanitarian crisis caused by our porous southern border. The Democrats’ dream of open borders and their unrelenting opposition to securing our border hurts the people they claim to care about the most.

Exactly!!  And well said, Brandon!  Brandon Judd is the president of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), the exclusive labor representative of approximately 16,000 Border Patrol agents.  As we’ve been saying here at The Daily Buzz for years (LONG before Trump even ran for President), it is way past time that we BUILD THE WALL NOW!!!!…and put U.S. Army National Guard troops physically ON the border with Mexico.  And, they should remain on the border until that wall/fence is finally built above, and below ground (to prevent tunneling)…however long it takes.  We’ve been hammering away on that issue for years for national security and economic reasons primarily.  Branon now makes the case from a humanitarian perspective.  Just another reason to make it happen NOW.

CBS Poll: 51% of Americans Believe a Border Wall is a Good Idea

As Townhall previously reported, a CBS poll released today showed that more Americans than not want illegal alien families either detained or deported all together. But, that same poll shows that 51% of Americans believe that a wall along the United States southern border is a good thing, even if that structure does not span coast-to-coast. According to the poll, 32% of Americans believe that “a wall along the U.S. Mexican border” is a “good idea that can probably be completed.” 19% of those polled answered that the wall is a “a good idea that should be tried, even if it cannot be completed.” 48% of the 2063 adults polled said the wall was a “bad idea.” The CBS poll was conducted last week from June 21-June 22. The poll comes after nearly two weeks of intense national scrutiny of the Trump administration regarding its handling of the southern border child migrant crisis. Democratic officials, liberals, and moderate Republicans have blasted President Trump for his “zero tolerance” policy of separately detaining illegal alien children from their parents when caught crossing the Mexican-American border. President Trump has long promised a “big beautiful wall,” but so far has been unable to receive the necessary funding. In an op-ed on Friday, liberal commentator Andrew Sullivan argued that Democratic representatives should give Trump “his f*cking wall. He won the election. He is owed this. It may never be completed; it may not work, as hoped. But it is now the only way to reassure a critical mass of Americans that mass immigration is under control, and the only way to make any progress under this president.” But, Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who often votes against Trump, argued today that just a few months ago Congress actually had given President Trump the necessary funding for the border wall, but the White House opted to decline the bill in hopes of getting more political victories. Sen. King told NBC “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd that, “Mike Rounds and I had an amendment, it was the one that got the most votes on the floor of the Senate. We got 54 votes. It was in a sense DACA for the wall. And the wall was fully funded. The Democratic Caucus voted, I think, 46 out of 48 members, 49 members for it. That was a hard sell. But the White House itself torpedoed the bill. They threatened to veto, they sent out a scurrilous press release from DHS and we had the votes. We had probably 65, 67 votes. They killed it. They had the wall in their hand and they let it go because they wanted more.” Despite President Trump signing an executive order last week that stopped the separation of families apprehended at the border, it is unclear where the debate on this issue will lead before the 2018 midterm elections.

Think about this..  CBS News, which is part of the dominantly liberal mainstream media, found in one of THEIR polls, that 51% of Americans in THEIR poll, want the wall built.  Just imagine if that had been a Fox News poll…and how much higher that number would be.  Americans are sick of this non-stop invasion on our southern border by illegal aliens.  So, despite the emotional tugs at the heart by agenda-driven leftists talking about children migrants and so on, the people have had it.  We agree.  BUILD THE WALL NOW!!!…and put U.S. Army National Guard troops physically ON the border with Mexico to prevent would-be crossers from stepping one foot on U.S. soil.  After all, once they do, they’re entitled (and that’s the key word) to all sorts of freebies that we, the actual citizens, have to pay for.  Then, those Guard troops should remain on the border until that wall/fence is finally built above/below ground (to prevent tunneling)…however long it takes.  Simultaneously, we need to be deporting illegals already here in America by the hundreds of thousands (and yes, you read that correctly), paying particular attention to known gang members (i.e. MS-13, etc.), convicted criminal aliens, and those already determined by an immigration judge to be deported…regardless of age or gender.  And, that’s just for starters, folks.  To do anything less is NOT in our county’s national security, or economic, interests.  Period!

Bartiromo: ‘Mind-boggling’ There’s a $47 Trillion Budget Over 10 Years and Can’t Find $25 Billion for the Wall

During Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Sunday,” Fox Business Network anchor Maria Bartiromo called it “mind-boggling” that there is a $47 trillion budget but no money readily available to be spent on building the United States-Mexico border wall. “[I]t’s perfectly natural to think that OK, if it hasn’t been used, this money is sitting there maybe we can clawback $15 billion, and again, the president is saying that he is willing to go to bat even though it’s very close to the mid-term elections, by the way, to shut down this government until this funding is done,” Bartiromo said. “It is a little mind-boggling that you have a $47 trillion budget over 10 years and you can’t find $25 billion for the wall for that.”

Maria is exactly right!  With all of the trillions and trillions of federal government waste of our hard earned tax dollars, and they can’t cough up enough (with GOP control of both chambers of Congress, no less) money for a wall to secure our border…which would help to stem the tide of illegal aliens and drugs and so on…which cost us billions and billions each year..   It’s beyond ridiculous.   Thanks Maria!!      🙂

Court rules Trump can build border wall

A federal court cleared the way Tuesday for President Trump to build his border wall, ruling that the administration has the power to waive a series of environmental laws to speed up construction. The state of California and environmental groups had been counting on the lawsuit to derail the border wall and called the decision disappointing. The ruling is a major boost for the president and is all the more striking because it comes from Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, whom Mr. Trump famously called biased during the 2016 presidential campaign because of his Mexican heritage. Judge Curiel said he wasn’t opining on whether a wall was good or bad policy but had to conclude that the government has the power to build it. “It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices,” he wrote in a 101-page ruling. His decision does not ease fights over land rights, which could delay some construction in areas such as Texas, where much of the border is on private property. Nor does the ruling grant Mr. Trump funding for the wall. That must come from Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have been sparring over how much to grant, and over what concessions to demand in return — such as a full amnesty for illegal immigrant Dreamers. But the judge’s ruling does overcome a major legal hurdle that opponents had raised, citing the Trump administration’s intent to waive some three dozen laws to build fencing. Among them are some of the country’s most iconic statutes: the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Antiquities Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and the Eagle Protection Act. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife all filed lawsuits, which were consolidated into one case in front of Judge Curiel. The opponents argued that the waiver laws Mr. Trump is using were unconstitutional and, even if they were legal, they applied only to fencing that was built under Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama and couldn’t be stretched to Mr. Trump’s plans. Judge Curiel rejected all those claims. The Justice Department, which scored a rare victory in district courts on one of Mr. Trump’s immigration proposals, cheered the ruling. “Congress gave authority to the Department of Homeland Security to construct a border wall without delay to prevent illegal entry into the United States, and we are pleased DHS can continue this important work vital to our nation’s interests,” Justice spokesman Devin O’Malley said.

It’s a small victory.  But, we’ll take it.  And, we give credit where credit is due.  So, kudos to Judge Curiel.    🙂

House Committee Approves $10B for Border Wall

The House Homeland Security Committee approved a $10 billion funding package for President Donald Trump’s promised border wall construction. The bill could be attached to legislation being debated to replace President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). “We have been talking about border security for many years. Now that we finally have a partner in the White House who has prioritized this issue, it’s time for Congress to do its part and get the job done,” Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said in a written statement. “I look forward to working with my colleagues in both chambers to get this bill to the President’s desk so we can finally provide the American people with the security they have long demanded and deserve.” “The U.S. Constitution enumerates Congress’ authority to provide for the common defense of our nation,” Chairman McCaul continued. “Today the Committee passed legislation that will protect our homeland by strengthening the security of our borders. This is a 21st Century, multi-layered approach, which authorizes $10 billion for the construction of a border wall, $5 billion for the modernization of our ports of entry, provides other tactical infrastructure and cutting-edge technology, puts more boots on the ground, and better empowers the Department of Homeland Security’s Secretary to take other necessary actions to secure the border.” The provision funding the construction of the president’s promised border wall came as part of a border security spending proposal that will reimburse states for up to $35 million for their costs of using National Guard troops to supplement border security efforts in their state, The Hill reported. It also includes $5 billion to increase security at ports of entry. Democrats expressed their displeasure with the committee’s attempt to secure the nation’s border with Mexico. The committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) attempted to change the name of the bill to the “Taking Americans’ Land to Build Trump’s Wall Act of 2017.” That proposal failed. Texas Democrat Rep. Filemon Vela attempted to attack snarky amendments that included adding the terms “big and beautiful,” “real,” “inclusive of a door,” and “paid for by the Mexican Government.” Those amendments also failed. “I appreciate the gentleman’s creativity in this amendment and sense of humor, but I will oppose this amendment,” Chairman McCaul responded to his fellow Texan. The Hill also reported that Democrats expressed concern that the bill is an attempt to tie border security to some type of replacement program for the executive action program, DACA. “There’s no doubt that this is a setup for that conversation,” Rep. Nannette Barragán (D-Calif.) told the committee.

We don’t want a “replacement program..”  We want to get rid of the current one!!  Kudos to this House Committee for moving forward with this.  It’s long overdue!

Trump border wall construction begins

Homeland Security said it began construction Tuesday on the prototypes for President Trump’s new border wall. In a short notice, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the building began in San Diego on eight prototypes, which had been awarded over the summer. Four of the prototypes are concrete walls and four are nonconcrete designs, all selected from dozens of proposals submitted by contractors earlier this year. “We are committed to securing our border, and that includes constructing border walls,” said Ronald Vitiello, acting deputy commissioner at CBP. The agency released a video showing equipment being unloaded and the ground being dug out at the site. The prototypes are designed to test out new approaches, materials, strategies and technology as Homeland Security pushes forward with Mr. Trump’s goal of a border wall. The designs are between 18 and 30 feet, and will be evaluated on how well they deter climbers, how well they withstand breach attempts and what sort of awareness they allow agents who patrol the border. The prototypes are expected to be finished within 30 days. “Moving forward with the prototypes enables us to continue to incorporate all the tools necessary to secure our border,” Mr. Vitiello said. Agents — and Mr. Trump — say visibility through the wall is critical for knowing what’s going on in Mexico, helping agents avoid ambushes or other potential dangers, as well as spot migrants or smugglers preparing to try to cross. The concrete designs are less useful right along the border, officials said, and will likely be used as secondary fencing set back a bit. About 354 miles of the 1,952-mile border are currently protected by some form of wall. Another 300 miles have vehicle barriers, which allow easy penetration by pedestrians or animals but are designed to stop trucks and cars from barreling over the border. Mr. Trump during the campaign said he wanted to see a border-long wall, but more recently has said between 700 and 900 miles need a barrier. It’s unclear whether that’s a total number or is in addition to the current fencing. His 2017 budget called for money for replacing some outdated parts of the current wall, while his 2018 plan asked for $1.6 billion to erect 32 miles of new fencing in Texas, another 28 miles of new levee wall, also in Texas, and 14 miles of replacement fencing in San Diego. The House has approved the money, but the Senate has yet to take up the bill, and Democrats have announced they will try to derail any legislation that includes border wall money. There is enough money in the current 2017 budget to pay for the prototypes.