Thread: Demolition of aging border fence in Yuma begins, will be replaced by upgraded barrier

Demolition of aging border fence in Yuma begins, will be replaced by upgraded barriers

Rafael Carranza, Arizona Republic
Published 4:14 p.m. MT April 26, 2019


At the border in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico, and San Luis, Arizona on April 2, 2019. (Photo: Nick Oza/The Republic)


TUCSON — Construction crews this week began demolishing outdated landing-mat fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border near Yuma to make way for upgraded, 30-foot bollards that allow agents to see through the barrier.

A spokesperson for Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector said work crews began dismantling the older barriers on Wednesday, the same day that the federal government issued a waiver to expedite the replacement of 31 miles of fencing in Yuma.

The Border Patrol did not disclose the location where crews had begun demolishing the landing-mat fencing on Wednesday, but they noted that the replacement bollards were not being installed yet.

The first of six segments slated for replacement in the Yuma area is a 26-mile stretch of landing mat located just east of the San Luis port of entry. It juts east into the Arizona desert.

In October, Barnard Construction Co. of Bozeman, Mont., won the $324 million contract to replace 32 miles along the Arizona-Mexico border, including the 26 miles in San Luis.

In early April, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced they had awarded two other contracts to Barnard Construction to replace an additional 11 miles, using funds that the Department of Defense reprogrammed as part of President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration at the border.

On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security issued two waivers allowing the federal government to waive a series of environmental, natural-resource and land-management laws to expedite construction of the barriers in Arizona.

That paved the way for construction crews to begin demolishing the landing-mat fencing in San Luis.


Remnants of plastic sit atop barbed wire installed over landing mat border fencing near the San Luis port of entry. (Photo: Rafael Carranza/The Republic)


In addition to the 26 miles in San Luis, the Homeland Security waiver also covers approximately five miles of new bollard fencing along the Colorado River, an area that has seen large numbers of families wading across the low-water levels to enter the country and turn themselves in to border agents.

It includes one and a half miles near the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range.

There’s no date yet for when construction on those seven miles will begin.

Other areas slated for replacement includes one mile of landing-mat fencing surrounding the Andrade port of entry, which is west of the California-Arizona state line but falls within the jurisdiction of Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector.

Crews will replace five miles of wire mesh fencing with newer bollards surrounding the Lukeville port of entry.

Have any news tips or story ideas about the U.S.-Mexico border? Reach the reporter at rafael.carranza@arizonarepublic.com, or follow him on Twitter at @RafaelCarranza.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/border-issues/2019/04/26/demolition-aging-border-fence-yuma-begins/3591913002/

I feel that much of that old wall could be upgraded and that the new wall could be built in back of the upgraded old wall so we'd have a double wall with a road paved inbetween them. Those pictures above with the razor wire on the tops of that old wall don't look too bad to me? Why should that wall be torn down????? Increase the razor wire on the top of the old wall, reenforce the wall and build the new one behind it with a road inbetween.

Originally Posted by tonyklo

. . . Why should that wall be torn down????? . . .

The old metal post have been in the ground for more than 10 years. They are rusted thru at ground level. You can push it down with a pick up truck. Plus there is nothing under the old fence to keep people from digging under it.



BP chief shows section of San Diego border knocked down


Posted: 11:28 PM, Feb 06, 2019
Updated: 6:11 AM, Feb 07, 2019

Originally Posted by tonyklo

I feel that much of that old wall could be upgraded and that the new wall could be built in back of the upgraded old wall so we'd have a double wall with a road paved inbetween them. Those pictures above with the razor wire on the tops of that old wall don't look too bad to me? Why should that wall be torn down????? Increase the razor wire on the top of the old wall, reenforce the wall and build the new one behind it with a road inbetween.

They are doing that because they are pretending. Why tear that down, why not start in places that have zero fencing?

It is all a moot point anyway. What they are NOT telling people is this.....

Unless the WALL/FENCE is built exactly on the line (it is not) that border patrol is going around and helping the people around the fence, because they have stepped their foot on American soil. Therefore the wall/ fence is useless, just a distraction as the invasion continues.

Need proof.....

On U.S. border, fence meant as barrier becomes lure for migrants

Andrew Hay, Lucy Nicholson, Jane Ross
4 Min Read







EL PASO, Texas (Reuters) - Huddled against a border fence on a bitterly cold morning in El Paso, Texas, a group of 60 Guatemalan migrants, around half toddlers and children, shouted for help: “We’re cold, we’re hungry, we need shelter.”






The group was trying to surrender to U.S. Border Patrol agents and claim asylum, but the agents were too busy herding other groups along the fence that stands about 100 yards (91 m) inside U.S. territory.


The 18-foot-high (5.5 meters) steel barrier is meant to deter illegal immigration. But its position inside the border has turned it into a destination for human smugglers trafficking large groups of asylum seekers fleeing poverty and violence.


The smugglers in recent weeks have shifted routes to El Paso from the remote Antelope Wells area of New Mexico, Border Patrol supervisory agent Joe Romero said.


Once undocumented migrants are on U.S. soil, the Border Patrol is obliged to arrest them for entering illegally. But migrants can claim fear of returning to their countries, allowing them to remain in the United States legally until an asylum hearing, which can take months or years.


The smugglers’ strategy exploits a weakness in the very border wall President Donald Trump has touted as a means to protect the United States from undocumented immigrants and illicit drugs.


The crowds in El Paso illustrate changing immigration patterns. As recently as 2015, the majority of undocumented border crossers were adult men from Mexico looking to disappear into the country and find work. Now the Border Patrol says about 85 percent of migrants arriving in the El Paso sector are Central American families and children seeking asylum.


Gaspar Isom, 38, who was with his 16-year-old son Sebastian, said he chose El Paso for the relative safety of its sister Mexican border city, Ciudad Juarez.


“We were told other places were more dangerous to cross, they were controlled by the Zetas,” Isom said, referring to the Mexican cartel.


The pair were among close to 1,000 mostly Central American migrants who crossed into El Paso on Wednesday in the kind of surge the U.S. border has not seen in over a decade, Border Patrol data show.


Slideshow (20 Images)

El Paso is not alone in seeing an uptick. Over 268,000 undocumented migrants were arrested at the Southwest border from October through February, a near doubling over the same period a year earlier, to a 12-year high, according to government data released this week. Annual apprehensions remain well below the peak of 1.6 million in 2000.


Border Patrol officials say the El Paso fence, one of multiple sections of barrier built inside the border due to quirks of local topography, is successful in stopping migrants from scattering into El Paso.


But they acknowledge having a hard time keeping up with the numbers. El Paso sector Border Patrol stations reached capacity on Wednesday, and the group of 60 was finally picked up at 5 a.m. Thursday, after spending two nights sleeping by the fence, according to Dylan Corbett, who helps run a migrant shelter operated by El Paso’s Roman Catholic diocese.


Romero said the agency ran out of space to safely and securely transport migrants: “We have manpower shortages, our facilities are at capacity if not more.”



https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKCN1QP197

Why a Texas border wall won’t deter Central American migrants

WASHINGTON - Asylum seekers coming across the border from Mexico in South Texas have recently devised a new system for defeating the tall barrier fences that were built to keep them out.


“They’ll actually walk up to the border wall, where there are gates,” said Jodi Goodwin, an immigration attorney in Harlingen, Tex. “They know those gates have cameras. So they’ll just wave at the cameras to notify the Border Patrol, ‘We’re here!’”


“They don’t have to worry about getting over a wall,” she continued. “To them, the wall is completely irrelevant.”

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...l-13541575.php

when did the target become 500-550 miles?

Trump will be close to his target of 500-550 miles of border wall.

Yuma Border Fence Upgrade Begins Immediately as DHS Waives Environmental, Other Laws, Report Says

Wall Construction

Along the border, the Trump administration already has built or replaced 82 miles of fencing, Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, commanding general of the Army Corps of Engineers, said April 5.


Another 97 miles will be completed by the end of 2019 and another 277 miles roughly by the end of 2020, he said.


With a total of over 450 miles of new steel bollard fence, Trump will be close to his target of 500-550 miles of border wall.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/upgrad...s_2897356.html

Donald Trump's wall will be more like 550 miles, not all 2,000 miles of ...
https://globalnews.ca/news/4793962/d...all-550-miles/

Dec 25, 2018 - U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the government would not reopen until the country has a border wall or fence to stop "very bad ...

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Donald Trump's wall will be more like 550 miles, not all 2,000 miles of ...
https://globalnews.ca/news/4793962/d...all-550-miles/

Dec 25, 2018 - U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the government would not reopen until the country has a border wall or fence to stop "very bad ...

So he slipped that present in our stocking on Christmas morning 2018 when he thought no one was watching.
and no worries, about mountains and rivers if they can't get across BP to the rescue

--------------
Donald Trump’s wall will be more like 550 miles, not all 2,000 miles of U.S.-Mexico border, he says

By Jesse Ferreras Online Journalist Global News

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the government would not reopen until the country has a border wall or fence to stop "very bad criminals" coming into the country.







Speaking to reporters on Christmas morning, Trump said the federal government yesterday handed out a contract to build 115 miles (about 185 kilometres) of wall, which represents about a fifth of the total 500 to 550 miles (805 to 885 kilometres) he expects to see constructed along the U.S.-Mexico border.
WATCH: Trump claims part of border wall built, cites Israel as proof a wall works
He hopes to have all 550 miles built by November 2020, when the next U.S. election rolls around.


“It’s a 2,000-mile border, but much of it has mountains and region where you can’t get across so we’re looking at between 500 and 550,” Trump said.


He also said the government has renovated a “massive amount of wall and, in addition to that — and I think very, very importantly — we built a lot of new wall.”


Trump’s remarks drew some scrutiny on Tuesday morning.


Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump pledged to build a “great, great wall” on the border and said Mexico would pay for it.
But Tuesday represented the first time he said how much he’d build or made any suggestion that renovating existing barrier would count toward realizing his promise, according to the Dallas News.

READ MORE: Donald Trump would settle for less border wall money: White House



Trump wants $5 billion to build the wall, and that amount would take care of approximately 215 miles — half of which would be replacements, it added.


The cost of a wall along America’s southern border has been pegged at anywhere between $12 billion (Trump’s estimate) and $21 billion (Homeland Security’s estimate).

If I'm wrong, someone please correct me. Isn't most of this fencing just upgrades (if you want to call them that)? I don't believe this is all new wall. Well, actually it's not a wall at all .... it's fencing. Calling a pond a lake doesn't actually make it one!

Looks like most of it are upgrades? Keep in mind, the majority of what's out there is vehicle barrier that's like 5 feet tall. There's a lot of that steel runway matt fence out there also, a lot of which needs to be replaced and some of which I feel can be salvaged as long as the new fence goes behind it. Doesn't seem like much of this new fence is going up in areas where there's nothing currently standing though. TRUMP IS A FRAUD!!!!! And he's paying like 20 MILLION A MILE for what he's putting up.

Hate to say this but WHAT IS TRUMP's incentive to keep his promises on immigration????? Nobody is putting any pressure on the guy. We're being invaded with hundred of thousands of diseased Central American Gang Bangers and Welfare Mothers and I don't see anybody out on the streets protesting this????? When Trump goes out and makes a speech, thousands of idiots show up and cheer any BS he comes up with. We've become a society of ZOMBIEIZED IDIOTS and COMMUNISTS. Part of what happened to us in my opinion is brain damage from CHEMTRAILS but they chemtrail in France and those people have been on the streets since Nov. 2018 applying pressure to their Rothschild controlled puppet Macron and he's starting to squirm.