The Homa Files

As the Senate-Congressional conferees kick-off their negotiations, the MSM is still harping on the political-emotional hysteria and continuing to insinuate that Trump wants a Chinese-like concrete wall that runs the entire expanse of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Very misleading…

Let’s take a step back and put the “demand” in context:

The U.S.-Mexican border is about 2,000 miles long … 1,954 to be precise.

About 700 miles of walls and fencing are already in place (e.g, the wall separating San Diego from Tijuana)

• About 400 miles of the barriers are designed to stop pedestrian traffic
• About 300 miles is “vehicle fencing”  which blocks vehicles but allows people on foot to cross easily.

The Sand Diego – Tijuana border

So, what exactly is Trump demanding?

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Despite campaign rhetoric to the contrary…

Even President Trump agrees that about half of the border (about 1,000 miles) doesn’t need a barrier since the terrain is so rugged that it is formidable natural barrier.

Specifically, President Trump is now asking for $5.7 billion — that would be used to build new steel-slat barriers along about 230 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.

• About 80 miles of the 230 would replace current, dilapidated, inadequate fencing.
• About 150  miles would cover parts of the border that don’t currently have crossing barriers of any kind.

Note: There is a specific plan that details which current barriers would be upgrade and where where new barriers would be erected.

The plan was developed by the Department of Homeland Security based on extensive input from border patrol agencies (and agents) who strongly support it.

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My view: politics aside, this should be a no-brainer.

The unlikely downside is “wasting” $5.7 billion, which is rounding error in Federal spending.

The likely upside: the new and improved barriers might work to strengthen current border security along the 230 miles ,,, just like they work along the San Diego-Tijuana border

See  Should the border wall between San Diego and Tijuana be torn down?

Again, seems like a no-brainer to me, especially since several measures already have full, bipartisan approval: more immigration judges, more technology to detect illegal drugs at ports of entry, more humanitarian aid for migrants in custody, etc.  Source

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This entry was posted on January 30, 2019 at 6:59 am and is filed under Border Security, Government & Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.