Stephen Miller Defends ‘Beautiful 30-Foot Rock Solid Bollard Steel’ Wall

Stephen Miller Defends ‘Beautiful 30-Foot Rock Solid Bollard Steel’ Wall

December 13, 2018


Charlie Spiering


President Donald Trump's senior advisor Stephen Miller appeared on Fox News on Thursday to defend the current progress on the southern border wall.


President Donald Trump’s senior advisor Stephen Miller appeared on Fox News on Thursday to defend progress on the southern border wall.


“There’s beautiful 30-foot rock solid bollard steel in the ground,” Miller told Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “You can go down and look at it.”


Miller said that over a hundred miles of wall on the southern border were either already built or currently under construction.


In 2016, Trump campaigned for a solid wall of hardened concrete, rebar, and steel, but since taking office, has touted the benefits of a “see-through” wall.


Democrat members of Congress have successfully prevented the president from appropriating significant funds to finish the project. In 2018, specific language in the Omnibus funding bill clarified that border security funds could only be used for “currently deployed steel bollard designs.”


Trump told crowds of supporters chanting “Build that wall!” at his campaign rallies that he had already secured $1.6 billion for border security in each of the two years of his presidency


“We’re building it in pieces and chunks, but I want to build it all at one time,” he told voters in Georgia prior to the midterm elections.


In his interview with Ingraham, Miller explained that the newly constructed border barriers were 30 feet tall, replacing inferior border barriers in crucial areas on the Southern border such as El Centro, San Diego, and Calexico.


“You see the old shorter barrier that predated this administration. You see people climbing over it and throwing human beings over it,” he said. “You need that 30-foot height.”


Miller warned Democrats that opposing border security was political suicide, especially as the presidential election approached in 2020.




“If the Democratic Party follows the path of open borders, then the Democratic Party is going to engage in self-immolation,” he said.


Miller argued that President Trump could win a shutdown showdown with Democrats to get significant funding for border security, including funding for more border barriers.


“This stand that we are taking right now with the entire nation watching and, frankly, the whole world watching is a stand that we think we are going to win,” Miller said.



https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2...rd-steel-wall/

Geez, now Trump has Stephen Miller telling his lie. What's being built is a fence. Actually we already have some of the same fencing. It is not a wall and it's certainly not the wall Trump promised us to gain our votes. I certainly would have enjoyed being in the White House to observe all the dancing around it must have took to come up with this plan to fool the American people into believing the current fencing being built is actually a wall. :lol:

It's all a bait-and- switch con!

I think that, based on his past achievements and work, Stephen Miller has been one of the true advocates against illegal immigration in this country. In my opinion, he has not been known as a liar and I will not speculate as to what happens in the White House. That said, the restrictions on the 1.6 billion that was budgeted to repair of the existing structures has been well documented. If those funds are being used to bolster to the fence to the desired 30 ft height, then I am glad to hear it. I do think that the bloated Pentagon budget could handle the wall funding since it is a matter of national security and with total border security, the budgets of other agencies would be reduced. The loss of business to the Mexican cartels would cost them billions of dollars and save American kid's lives.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Newmexican

I think that, based on his past achievements and work, Stephen Miller has been one of the true advocates against illegal immigration in this country. In my opinion, he has not been known as a liar and I will not speculate as to what happens in the White House. That said, the restrictions on the 1.6 billion that was budgeted to repair of the existing structures has been well documented. If those funds are being used to bolster to the fence to the desired 30 ft height, then I am glad to hear it. I do think that the bloated Pentagon budget could handle the wall funding since it is a matter of national security and with total border security, the budgets of other agencies would be reduced. The loss of business to the Mexican cartels would cost them billions of dollars and save American kid's lives.

---

I share your high opinion of Stephen Miller. However, that doesn't mean that everyone in the administration wasn't directed to call what has been repeatedly referred to as a fence in the past as a wall now. I don't deny that Stephen Miller is our strongest advocate in the White House. Although, he does work for the President and will do his bidding as directed, which is understandable. Heck, this re-branding of the fence may have been his idea for all we know.

I just don't care for the obvious "bait-and-switch" that is going on. Something that was a fence 2 years ago is still a fence today. Re-branding it as a wall in an effort to fit a political agenda is wrong in my opinion. Of course Trump's not the only person in politics to attempt to pull off such a shenanigan. However, I'm not falling for it and I don't think most Americans will.

For the record, it's not Stephen Miller that I feel betrayed by.

I have looked at pictures of this bollard wall and it's a heck of a lot closer to a wall than a fence. The new design was unclimbable even by US Special Forces commandos. Thirty feet tall sounds good to me.

https://www.alipac.us/f9/trump-repla...ng-bol-367725/

Put long drum rollers on top, slather them with red wheel bearing grease, let it roll one-way back to Mexican side!

Keep the from dropping off on the US side!

I do not want to pay their medical bills!!!

Send them to Mexico's medical facilities!

Trump, the great 'builder,' is erecting a glorified picket fence instead of a wall

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/o...tead-of-a-wall

Trump, the great 'builder,' is erecting a glorified picket fence instead of a wall

by Eddie Scarry
| December 13, 2018 04:35 PM

https://i.connatix.com/s3/connatix-u...=433&width=770


When President Trump last summer said to a stadium of supporters, “I’m a builder. That’s what I do. That’s probably what I do best,” I suspect they had in mind more impressive architecture than a wall, but that’s all they wanted anyway.

Two years into his presidency, the most Trump has managed to build are bits and pieces of what a mounts to a high picket fence.

The administration in late November proudly sent out an email featuring a before-and-after set of images purporting to show the swimming progress on the construction of the wall. They look like those infomercials for anti-wrinkle creams, wherein the model in one slide is shown frowning under ghastly florescent light and then in the second slide giving a radiant smile with a soft camera focus.


https://i.connatix.com/s3/connatix-u...=253&width=450



It’s a scam.

The administration’s “after” photo is nothing more than new fencing put up after border patrol as far back as 2009 identified specific areas where enhanced barriers were needed due to high crossing rates. It looks nothing like the massive prototypes Trump was photographed with in March.

Those walls underwent intensive testing for potential weaknesses by both the military and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, using power tools, torches, and ropes, according to the Associated Press. Only one agent was able to throw a hook atop one of the walls so that he might climb up. Everything else failed, though agents did recommend combining elements of each prototype if any actual structure were to be put up on the border.

Those are the walls his supporters fantasize about when Trump says “we need a wall.” Though they could be forgiven for being unsure whether a wall has already been built, whether it’s almost completed, or whether it’s even still needed.

Depending on the hour, Trump speedily shifts between declaring victory on the wall and pleading to Democrats for votes to pass more funding for it.

At the on-camera Oval Office meeting Tuesday with Democratic leaders, Trump at one point said, “So we’ve done a lot of work on the wall; a lot of wall is built.” And then he said, “We have walls that were in very bad condition that are now in A-1, tip-top shape. And, frankly, some wall has been reinforced by our military. Our military has done a fantastic job.”

So do we need the wall, is there already a wall that’s simply getting a makeover (not what he promised), or is the military the wall?

At yet another point in the meeting, Trump all but insisted a wall was unnecessary because of the tremendous job that border patrol is doing. “[W]hen you look at these numbers of the effectiveness of our border security, and when you look at the job that we’re doing with our military …” he said.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday, Trump said building a wall would be cost-effective but only after heralding the “newly built Walls, makeshift Walls & Fences, or Border Patrol Officers & Military.”

Trump is asking for $5 billion to build more “wall.” Were he trying to build a real wall and not some reinforced playground fence, he'd be asking for closer to $30 billion.

“[I]f we got $5 billion, we could do a tremendous chunk of wall,” Trump said at the meeting Tuesday.

But what “wall” is he talking about? Does he know anymore?

I don’t.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/trump-the-great-builder-is-erecting-a-glorified-picket-fence-instead-of-a-wall

Quote:

---

"It looks nothing like the massive prototypes Trump was photographed with in March.

Those walls underwent intensive testing for potential weaknesses by both the military and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, using power tools, torches, and ropes, according to the Associated Press. Only one agent was able to throw a hook atop one of the walls so that he might climb up. Everything else failed, though agents did recommend combining elements of each prototype if any actual structure were to be put up on the border."

---

They're talking about the prototype border walls, not the bollard fencing that is currently going up as the ones that couldn't be impregnated. What's going up now is nothing new. That type of fencing has already been built. In the last DHS funding bill there was no funding for Trump's border wall. Money was provided for repair, maintenance, and a small amount of bollard fencing that was previously approved during another administration.

I like the 30 foot bollard steel wall. I prefer it, it's what Border Patrol wants and it's better for the environment and storm drainage.

ERECT whatever it takes to keep them out!

Grease up those bars on the fence so they cannot climb it!

Put sensors with LOUD BLASTING SIRENS THAT TRIGGERS FLASHING LIGHTS where we can!

Bury concertina wire under the fence!

We have a bazillion cars, RV's, semi's in the junkyards...dig a trench, stack those cars 4 high...build the fence on top! They need to be buried anyway!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Judy

I like the 30 foot bollard steel wall. I prefer it, it's what Border Patrol wants and it's better for the environment and storm drainage.

---

You prefer it because that's all Trump can get built. What's going up now is a fence, not a wall. This type of fencing already exist, it's nothing new. Congress authorized no money for a wall, that was made very clear on the last appropriations bill. They didn't authorize anything more advanced than fencing that is already in place in some areas.

I will admit, it is easier to pass cartel drugs, weapons, and payoffs through a fence than it is the rebar reinforced concrete wall Trump promised during his campaign. Is that why some of the border patrol folks like it? Something to think about. Pass the payment through and let the illegals go to climbing. You've made it very clear in the past that there are plenty of border patrol agents taking payoffs from the drug cartels. Just saying .....

Oh, and for the record, it's not so much the fence that I have a problem with. It's the big lie that irks me! Don't piss on my pant leg and tell me it's raining and don't build what is and has always been a fence and insist it's a wall just to validate a campaign promise.

How quick we forget:

SPICER BLOWS UP AT A REPORTER FOR POINTING OUT THAT TRUMP’S WALL IS ACTUALLY A FENCE

Breitbart is not satisfied with Trump’s “tough-guy fencing thing.”

https://media.vanityfair.com/photos/...ina_Nguyen.png


BY

• TINA NGUYEN

MAY 3, 2017 6:44 PM

https://media.vanityfair.com/photos/...r-briefing.jpg


Just call them “alternative walls”.
From A.P./Rex/Shutterstock.

It seems that White House press secretary Sean Spicer cannot make anyone happy—not journalists, liberals, or establishment Republicans, not to mention Jewish advocacy groups. Even Breitbart, the increasingly mainstream avatar of the movement formerly known as the alt-right, is upset with Spicer’s efforts to spin the Trump administration’s colossal border wall failure as a big, beautiful win for his nationalist-populist base.

During his daily press briefing on Wednesday, Spicer got into a heated back-and-forth with Breitbart’s White House correspondent, Charlie Spiering, after he asked whether the Trump administration had lied to the public when he promised to build a concrete wall along the southern border, only to downgrade his proposal to a series of fence-like boundaries. It was an issue gaining traction on Breitbart’s front page, where political editor Matthew Boyle had published a story the day before complaining about the porous-looking fences, and blasting the White House for seemingly caving to Democrats on last week’s negotiations over the budget, which ultimately did not include funding for the president’s wall.

“This is what exists right now throughout our country,” Spicer practically shouted, his face turning red as he fired up a slide show of current, insufficient-looking border fences. He then switched to a slide of the proposed walls that would be funded by the spending bill’s appropriations—which, Spiering pointed out, did not look like walls.

“Are those photos of fences or walls?” asked Spiering.

“There are various types of walls that can be built under the legislation that was just passed,” Spicer responded.

“That is a fence,” Spiering said.

“That is called a levee wall,” Spicer replied.

And thus commenced several minutes of Spicer and Spiering yelling at each other about fences versus walls, with Spiering at one point accusing Spicer of trying to sell the public on an “existing tough-guy fencing thing” instead of a real wall.

At issue is the definition of whether a “levee wall” or a “bollard wall” is more of a fence than a wall. These alternative walls, the press secretary’s office had explained to Breitbart the day before, were not specifically meant to keep out people but would have the same effect. The levee wall, placed along the Rio Grande, would prevent flooding and illegal migration, said deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters.(Neither Walters nor Spicer explained what a “bollard wall” is, but it certainly sounds imposing.)

After the spat, neither Spiering nor the Breitbart appeared satisfied with Spicer’s answer. “Spicer refused to describe his fence photos as Trump’s promised wall to supporters but assured them that it would be effective in protecting the border,” Spiering reported, adding that Trump had specifically promised a concrete wall built with rebar and steel, and mocking the “little toy walls” currently lining the border.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/05/sean-spicer-wall-versus-fence

April 5, 2018

Trump tweets photo of replacement fence, calls it 'Border Wall'

By Ed Straker

President Trump continues to erode his credibility, this time by tweeting a photo of a replacement fence and calling this the beginning of the construction of the "Border Wall."

Trump's words leave the impression that construction is underway for the border wall he promised, and that $1.6 billion is helping pay for it. That's not the case.

According to Los Angeles Times reporting, the photos Trump shared in his March 28 tweet about "the start of our southern border WALL" were for the replacement of an estimated 2.25-mile border wall in Calexico, Calif., built in the 1990s using recycled scraps of metal and old landing mat.

The Los Angeles Times quoted Jonathan Pacheco, a spokesman for the Border Patrol's El Centro Sector as having said earlier in March: "First and foremost, this isn't Trump's wall. This isn't the infrastructure that Trump is trying to bring in. ... This new wall replacement has absolutely nothing to do with the prototypes that were shown over in the San Diego area."

Conspiracy theorists believe that Trump has a secret plan to illegally divert military spending to build his wall. The tweet above should put this to rest. Trump clearly refers to his "wall" with a photo of a fence (a replacement fence). This is the "wall" he has promised.

It's hard to believe a president who has an adulterous relationship with the truth. Every time he demonstrates his lack of candor, he calls into question his other statements, such as his latest proclamation that he is going to send the National Guard to help the Border Patrol.

I'm reserving judgment on that until I see exactly how many National Guardsmen are sent there and what their responsibilities are. It may interest you to know that when George W. Bush was president, he deployed 6,000 National Guardsmen, only a quarter of the number deemed necessary, and illegal border crossings were reduced by only 24%.

If Trump commits the necessary resources to defend the border, I'll be the first to praise him. If he sends only a small number of Guardsmen for political theater, then it will be just another example of where the president's rhetoric has no relation to reality.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at Newsmachete.com.


Read more: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog...#ixzz5Zn8i6oVk
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The history lesson continues:

Has construction 'already started' on Trump’s border wall in San Diego?

By Chris Nichols on Tuesday, June 26th, 2018 at 2:45 p.m.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.poli...ll_started.png

President Donald Trump reviews border wall prototypes, Tuesday, March 13, 2018, in San Diego. Evan Vucci / AP Photo

Amid chants of "Build the Wall!" at a recent rally in Nevada, President Trump repeated the claim that construction has "already started" on the border wall in California.

Here’s what Trump said, in context, at the Nevada rally on June 23, 2018:

"We have to have strong borders. We’re going to have the (border) wall. We’re gonna have the wall. We’ve already started it ....
(Audience cheers)

"We’ve already started it. You know, we started it in San Diego."
(Audience chants: "Build that Wall! Build that Wall! Build that Wall!")

"Now we’re gonna have the wall. And we started it. We have $1.6 billion. We’ve started it. We’re fixing it. And we’re building new. And we’re starting it. … We’re getting the wall built."

Has construction really started on Trump’s signature campaign promise: Building "a big, beautiful wall," on the U.S.-Mexico border?

Trump has made similar statements in the past. In this fact check, we’ll focus on his claim: "We’ve already started (the border wall). We started it in San Diego."

President Trump made his claim during a rally in Nevada on June 23, 2018.

Projects at the border

There are projects underway to replace fencing along the border in San Diego and further east in Calexico. Those call for new and taller, bollard-style barriers, which include a comb-like array of steel posts that border patrol agents can see through, some of which were planned long before Trump ran for office.

A recent appropriation by Congress of $1.6 billion allows for the replacement of the old fencing, but not for the construction of any sort of concrete wall prototype as Trump requested.

"The one thing we don’t fund is the one issue we all campaigned on — a border security wall — and that is not in the legislation," Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, founder of the House Freedom Caucus, said of the omnibus bill, according to an April article by FactCheck.org.

In San Diego, the project underway will replace 14 miles of scrap metal fencing that’s now eight-to-10 feet high with the bollard-style barrier.

That replacement will be 18-to-30 feet in height and include an anti-climbing plate, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection news release announcing the start of construction on June 1, 2018. The press release calls it the third "border wall construction project," which is misleading.

That’s because none of the projects that have already started will produce the solid, 30-foot high concrete barrier Trump promised during his 2016 presidential campaign. More specifically, they won’t include any of the eight border wall prototype designs ordered by the Trump administration.
"... this isn’t Trump’s wall"

The same goes for the 2.25-mile barrier replacement project east of San Diego in Calexico.

"First and foremost, this isn’t Trump’s wall," Jonathan Pacheco, a spokesman for the Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector, which includes Calexico, told the Los Angeles Times in March 2018. "This isn’t the infrastructure that Trump is trying to bring in. … This new wall replacement has absolutely nothing to do with the prototypes that were shown over in the San Diego area."

Plans for the Calexico project, which also include a bollard-style structure, began in 2009 under the Obama administration and were funded in 2017, under Trump, according to the Times.

A spokesman for the Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector said they could not specify when planning started for the San Diego project.

"These were funded under FY2017 so planning was before or during that time," Ralph DeSio, the agency’s San Diego-based spokesman, wrote in an email.

The White House did not respond to a request for evidence supporting the president’s statement.
The reality of what’s being built at these sites, and how it differs from Trump’s campaign promise, hasn’t stopped the president from distorting the facts.

In April, PolitiFact National rated Mostly False Trump’s similar statement: "We’ve started building the wall." It found Trump’s words "leave the impression that construction is underway for the border wall he promised, and that $1.6 billion is helping pay for it. That’s not the case."

It concluded that "it’s disingenuous to claim" the projects underway "amount to the border wall Trump has long promised."

Our ruling

President Trump recently claimed: "We’ve already started (the border wall). We started it in San Diego."

His statement gives the wrong impression that border fence replacement projects in California, including those in San Diego and Calexico, are the same as the solid, 30-foot-high concrete wall he promised during his run for president.

The $1.6 billion authorized by Congress for these projects does not allow for the construction of any sort of wall prototype requested by Trump.

Instead, the projects underway include arrays of steel posts, between 18 and 30 feet high, that allow border patrol agents to see through.

The planning for at least some of these projects, which will replace shorter scrap metal fencing, started long before Trump ran for office. Congress, however, agreed to pay for them under Trump’s administration.

We also grant that Trump at the Nevada rally added: "We’re fixing it. And we’re building new." This could be interpreted as a slight acknowledgement that the projects aren’t exactly what he promised, but they don’t add much clarity to what overall is a misleading statement.
We rate Trump’s claim Mostly False.

https://www.politifact.com/californi...ps-border-wal/

I prefer the looks and effect of the steel wall over the concrete wall, but whether it's steel or concrete, neither one are my preference. My preference was and is a Wall of Americans, 40,000 guards, 20 per mile, 6 per shift with 2 floaters for holidays and sick leave, on average That's my preference for border security and has always been. I've posted long detailed posts about this for almost 13 years, ever since they proposed and eventually passed the 2006 Fence Act. You might need more in some areas, less in others, and none in some extremely remote areas, but on average this should work very well.

The Wall of Americans would be federal employees, well-armed and equipped with handguns, long guns, high-powered binoculars, night goggles, and other types of weaponry, would be guards not patrols. Their job is to keep them out and make getting in a very unpleasant experience. They could easily be Marines and other Active Military as well. They don't rescue illegal aliens, they don't process illegal aliens, they don't take them to the hospital, they don't take them to border patrol offices, they don't administer first aid, they don't speak Spanish, only English, they don't give them food or water because they won't have it on hand to give, they keep them out of the country by any legal means, or if they get in, they capture them, tie them up and call Border Patrol to come pick them up to do whatever with.

You know this, you've opposed this every time I post it, because you thought it was too expensive. It would cost about $2.5 to $3 billion a year, a pittance compared to the cost of illegal immigration on our society, plus it's payrolls that recycle in our economy, creates 40,000 good jobs, and I think will work better and be more effective than a wall or fence. Walls in high traffic highly populated areas will probably work pretty well, at least slow them down, but in the less populated areas I think we need a Wall of Americans to actually guard the border whose legal assignment is to keep them out and make getting in and captured extremely unpleasant, uncomfortable and even dangerous, as it should be.

Trump’s ‘expanded’ Border Patrol is losing employees faster than it can hire new ones

Firm Awarded $297M Government Contract to Recruit 5,000 Border Agents Has Hired Only 2

POSTED 3:54 PM, DECEMBER 12, 2018,
BY CNN WIRE, UPDATED AT 08:14PM, DECEMBER 12, 2018

https://tribktla.files.wordpress.com...0&h=225&crop=1
A patch on the uniform of a U.S. Border Patrol agent at a highway checkpoint on August 1, 2018 in West Enfield, Maine. (Credit: Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection hiring contract with a consulting firm was riddled with performance issues over the past year, including an inability of the firm to process quality candidates and provide promised technology, according to internal watchdog findings released Monday.

Ten months into the contract, the consulting firm, Accenture, had only “processed two accepted job offers,” but was paid $13.6 million in start-up costs and other expenses, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General found.

In November 2017, CBP awarded Accenture a $297 million contract to help meet the hiring demands of an executive order on border security that President Donald Trump signed during his first week in office. The President’s directive called on CBP to “take all appropriate action to hire 5,000 additional Border Patrol agents.”

For years CBP has struggled to maintain its staffing numbers, let alone raise them by thousands.

“In its first year, CBP’s contract with Accenture has already taken longer to deploy and delivered less capability than promised,” wrote acting Inspector General John V. Kelly.

Stacey Jones, a spokeswoman for Accenture, said the company remains “focused on fulfilling our client’s expectations under our contract.” Jones directed CNN to reach out to CBP for further information regarding their work on the contract.

Issues with the contract come amid the backdrop of Trump’s mass deployment of more than 5,000 active duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to supplement CBP’s staffing and resources.

“For us, in this country, we keep America safe by proper application of the law,” a DHS official said in response to the IG report. “It’s a law enforcement mission. It’s not a military mission. It’s a law enforcement mission.”

The inspector general released its report as a “management alert” — reserved for issues that require immediate attention — after the watchdog received multiple hotline complaints related to the performance and management of the contract.

The CBP’s struggles with retention began around five years ago, when the demographics of illegal border crossings began to shift from single men to families and unaccompanied minors, creating new recruiting challenges for the department, according to a DHS official.

The official said that the negative press coverage surrounding the unaccompanied minor crisis in 2014 added to the agency’s staffing challenges.

The US Border Patrol, the CBP’s law enforcement arm at the US borders, has a statutorily established minimum staffing level of just over 21,370 agents, not including the additional request from the president.

Border Patrol staffing levels peaked in 2010 with 21,444 agents nationwide, down to 19,555 in 2018.

However, there was a net gain of 120 agents in 2018 — the first year that had had a net gain since 2013, according to CBP data.

“Hiring is not just anyone that can fill a uniform. It is extremely difficult to be a Border Patrol agent, and so we work really hard to get the right person for the job,” said the official. “You want to hire a lot of people, but you cannot reduce the standards.”

In order to keep up with retention and hire thousands of new agents and officers, CBP decided it would “have to start thinking outside the box, get some more innovative ideas,” said another DHS official.

When planning its hiring surge of thousands of additional personnel, CBP was grappling with two issues — how to build the right kind of hiring capacity and wanting a set of “fresh set of eyes” from outside of the government, the DHS official said.

“When we set this up, we knew that we were trying to be innovative. We were trying to open the aperture and try something new, so, ‘how can we in government really attack this problem differently?'” a DHS official said.

The inspector general, which initiated its review of the contract in July, found that Accenture was “nowhere near” satisfying its goal to hire 7,500 people over the next five years. And the internal watchdog concluded that CBP has “used significant staffing and resources” to help Accenture do its job.

“As such, we are concerned that CBP may have paid Accenture for services and tools not provided,” the inspector general wrote.

Additionally, the company claimed it would have the capability and capacity to perform all steps in the CBP hiring process with 90 days of the contract, but the company “has yet to demonstrate” an efficient or effective process, the inspector general found.

About a week ago, the CBP told Accenture to stop processing applications and think about the activities “where the return on investment really is positive,” a DHS official said.

Some steps in the hiring process are required to be done by a government official, such as the final decision on an offer, so it was necessary for Accenture to hand candidates back to the government for parts of the process, according to a DHS official. Officials found that the handoffs between the government and the private contractor became tedious and time consuming. And in the meantime, the government hiring center got to the point where it could handle the current applicant capacity, a DHS official said.

However, CBP was satisfied with Accenture’s digital marketing and advertising assistance as well as with the applicant care and support it provided, such as making phone calls to applicants during the process.

“We have more work to do here. We have more work to do in terms of figuring out exactly how we are going to do this with Accenture going forward,” said the official.

Accenture also came under internal fire last month, when an employee petition circulated urging the company to cancel its contract with the Trump administration, Bloomberg reported.
“The technology we provide is sold in the name of efficiency, but all we see is technology supercharging inhumane and cruel policies,” the petition stated, according to Bloomberg.

Accenture’s Jones said, “we welcome the feedback from our people and are aware of the posting on our internal blog site. An important part of our culture is that we encourage all our people to have a dialogue about issues that arise in the workplace and beyond.”

Other technology companies have faced similar internal backlash, often over the administration’s immigration and border policies.

The CBP concurred with all of the recommendations made by the inspector general, although it disagreed with some of the watchdog’s conclusions.

“They raised issues and concerns that we ourselves had, that we’re managing, and that’s why we concurred with all their recommendations,” said a DHS official.

Despite the ups and downs with the contract, CBP has lowered the average time it takes to get an applicant hired from more than a year to nine months, according to a DHS official.

CBP is also starting to see evidence that the way it is targeting applicants is “getting a higher percentage of applicants who are qualified to get through the system,” the official said.

There were times when CBP had to have 200 applicants to produce one Border Patrol agent, but the number of applicants is down to about 75 for each hire, according to the official.

Additionally, in last couple months, the number of applicants per month has gone up even though it’s a time of year when the number typically goes down, the official said.

https://ktla.com/2018/12/12/firm-awa...ired-only-two/

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MW

Oh, and for the record, it's not so much the fence that I have a problem with. It's the big lie that irks me! Don't piss on my pant leg and tell me it's raining and don't build what is and has always been a fence and insist it's a wall just to validate a campaign promise.

---

Exactly! I don't care what they build as long as it keeps everyone out just build something!

It is the lie---lie---lie---do nothing that I have a huge problem with.

There is absolutely no excuse for all this do nothing and all the lying. NONE!

Go into a meeting with Chuck and Nancy shortly after saying "they have been stopped" is a perfect indication he isn't serious about doing anything. Asking for 5 billion, only gets 1.6---why didn't he ask for FULL funding 2 years ago. You don't start a negotiation at the bottom dollar, you start high. You don't say "they have been stopped" then ask for funding!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MW

The history lesson continues:

Has construction 'already started' on Trump’s border wall in San Diego?

By Chris Nichols on Tuesday, June 26th, 2018 at 2:45 p.m.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.poli...ll_started.png

President Donald Trump reviews border wall prototypes, Tuesday, March 13, 2018, in San Diego. Evan Vucci / AP Photo

Amid chants of "Build the Wall!" at a recent rally in Nevada, President Trump repeated the claim that construction has "already started" on the border wall in California.

Here’s what Trump said, in context, at the Nevada rally on June 23, 2018:

"We have to have strong borders. We’re going to have the (border) wall. We’re gonna have the wall. We’ve already started it ....
(Audience cheers)

"We’ve already started it. You know, we started it in San Diego."
(Audience chants: "Build that Wall! Build that Wall! Build that Wall!")

"Now we’re gonna have the wall. And we started it. We have $1.6 billion. We’ve started it. We’re fixing it. And we’re building new. And we’re starting it. … We’re getting the wall built."

Has construction really started on Trump’s signature campaign promise: Building "a big, beautiful wall," on the U.S.-Mexico border?

Trump has made similar statements in the past. In this fact check, we’ll focus on his claim: "We’ve already started (the border wall). We started it in San Diego."

President Trump made his claim during a rally in Nevada on June 23, 2018.

Projects at the border

There are projects underway to replace fencing along the border in San Diego and further east in Calexico. Those call for new and taller, bollard-style barriers, which include a comb-like array of steel posts that border patrol agents can see through, some of which were planned long before Trump ran for office.

A recent appropriation by Congress of $1.6 billion allows for the replacement of the old fencing, but not for the construction of any sort of concrete wall prototype as Trump requested.

"The one thing we don’t fund is the one issue we all campaigned on — a border security wall — and that is not in the legislation," Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, founder of the House Freedom Caucus, said of the omnibus bill, according to an April article by FactCheck.org.

In San Diego, the project underway will replace 14 miles of scrap metal fencing that’s now eight-to-10 feet high with the bollard-style barrier.

That replacement will be 18-to-30 feet in height and include an anti-climbing plate, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection news release announcing the start of construction on June 1, 2018. The press release calls it the third "border wall construction project," which is misleading.

That’s because none of the projects that have already started will produce the solid, 30-foot high concrete barrier Trump promised during his 2016 presidential campaign. More specifically, they won’t include any of the eight border wall prototype designs ordered by the Trump administration.
"... this isn’t Trump’s wall"

The same goes for the 2.25-mile barrier replacement project east of San Diego in Calexico.

"First and foremost, this isn’t Trump’s wall," Jonathan Pacheco, a spokesman for the Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector, which includes Calexico, told the Los Angeles Times in March 2018. "This isn’t the infrastructure that Trump is trying to bring in. … This new wall replacement has absolutely nothing to do with the prototypes that were shown over in the San Diego area."

Plans for the Calexico project, which also include a bollard-style structure, began in 2009 under the Obama administration and were funded in 2017, under Trump, according to the Times.

A spokesman for the Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector said they could not specify when planning started for the San Diego project.

"These were funded under FY2017 so planning was before or during that time," Ralph DeSio, the agency’s San Diego-based spokesman, wrote in an email.

The White House did not respond to a request for evidence supporting the president’s statement.
The reality of what’s being built at these sites, and how it differs from Trump’s campaign promise, hasn’t stopped the president from distorting the facts.

In April, PolitiFact National rated Mostly False Trump’s similar statement: "We’ve started building the wall." It found Trump’s words "leave the impression that construction is underway for the border wall he promised, and that $1.6 billion is helping pay for it. That’s not the case."

It concluded that "it’s disingenuous to claim" the projects underway "amount to the border wall Trump has long promised."

Our ruling

President Trump recently claimed: "We’ve already started (the border wall). We started it in San Diego."

His statement gives the wrong impression that border fence replacement projects in California, including those in San Diego and Calexico, are the same as the solid, 30-foot-high concrete wall he promised during his run for president.

The $1.6 billion authorized by Congress for these projects does not allow for the construction of any sort of wall prototype requested by Trump.

Instead, the projects underway include arrays of steel posts, between 18 and 30 feet high, that allow border patrol agents to see through.

The planning for at least some of these projects, which will replace shorter scrap metal fencing, started long before Trump ran for office. Congress, however, agreed to pay for them under Trump’s administration.

We also grant that Trump at the Nevada rally added: "We’re fixing it. And we’re building new." This could be interpreted as a slight acknowledgement that the projects aren’t exactly what he promised, but they don’t add much clarity to what overall is a misleading statement.
We rate Trump’s claim Mostly False.

https://www.politifact.com/californi...ps-border-wal/

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I can see that you are very distressed. Is it because you're afraid Trump will get credit for the big beautiful steel wall at least the portions he got funded? Why is that an issue for you? If you want a wall, which apparently you do, why wouldn't a big tall 30 foot high steel bollard wall be okay with you? Do you own stock in a concrete company, is that why you don't like the steel wall? Do you not understand the word wall in our language? Is that the problem?

I remember you totally supported the 2006 Fence Act, so it's a little disturbing to me that you won't support this big beautiful American-made bollard steel wall Trump is putting up to replace and extend that useless ugly piece of garbage that has proven itself to be a complete waste of US taxpayer money that you totally supported in 2005 and 2006.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Firm Awarded $297M Government Contract to Recruit 5,000 Border Agents Has Hired Only 2
Ten months into the contract, the consulting firm, Accenture, had only “processed two accepted job offers,” but was paid $13.6 million in start-up costs and other expenses, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General found.

---

I had hopes the Trump administration would cut some of the waste and insane spending, but that is not happening.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stoptheinvaders

Exactly! I don't care what they build as long as it keeps everyone out just build something!

It is the lie---lie---lie---do nothing that I have a huge problem with.

There is absolutely no excuse for all this do nothing and all the lying. NONE!

Go into a meeting with Chuck and Nancy shortly after saying "they have been stopped" is a perfect indication he isn't serious about doing anything. Asking for 5 billion, only gets 1.6---why didn't he ask for FULL funding 2 years ago. You don't start a negotiation at the bottom dollar, you start high. You don't say "they have been stopped" then ask for funding!

---

Do you not understand what happened on November 6, 2018? You lost the wall. The only wall or fence you're going to get now is whatever little dribs and drabs Democrats in those border areas want. If Trump couldn't get the funding for the wall when Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress, because he couldn't get 9 Democrats to vote with Republicans in the Senate, he's never going to get anything through the Congress now to stop, deter, slow down, or curb illegal immigration in the United States. The only solution will be whatever Trump can figure out to do by himself in the Executive Branch that won't be or can't ultimately be stopped by the Courts.

When Republicans lost control of the US House of Representatives in the mid-terms on November 6, 2018, our cause lost everything except what Trump can do by himself without Congress.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Judy

Do you not understand what happened on November 6, 2018? You lost the wall. The only wall or fence you're going to get now is whatever little dribs and drabs Democrats in those border areas want. If Trump couldn't get the funding for the wall when Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress, because he couldn't get 9 Democrats to vote with Republicans in the Senate, he's never going to get anything through the Congress now to stop, deter, slow down, or curb illegal immigration in the United States. The only solution will be whatever Trump can figure out to do by himself in the Executive Branch that won't be or can't ultimately be stopped by the Courts.

When Republicans lost control of the US House of Representatives in the mid-terms on November 6, 2018, our cause lost everything except what Trump can do by himself without Congress.

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Do you not understand what Trump said? Do you not understand what a lie is? Do you not understand how damaging it is to lie?

Perhaps this last election would not have been lost if he had not based his first campaign on a lie and kept his promises on immigration.

Here is one video, there are many more....

TRUMP: MEXICO WILL BE "HAPPY" TO PAY FOR WALL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEAH5RRNBoA

Trump will be proved right about Mexico being happy to pay for the wall. What would have cost them around $10 billion at the time, has already cost them $30 billion in aid to Central America over the next 6 years to keep these people out of their own country who are headed to our country and the $30 billion will probably prove to be a waste of Mexico's money.

Trump was 100% right about that so he didn't "lie", you lied trying to make it look like he lied. It's an all too frequent problem these days, liars lying about Trump trying to prove he's a liar when he hasn't lied yet about anything and people falling for it. In the meantime while Mexico is playing tough on the wall, Trump is terminating NAFTA and presenting a new USMCA trade agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada that the 3 countries have signed that raised wages for Mexicans from $16 a day to $16.00 an hour for auto-workers in Mexico, which will raise all wages in Mexico and possibly reduce Mexican immigration into the US for those who were only interested in coming here for higher wages and it didn't cost US anything, in fact, this new deal is going to make Americans who work for American companies producing in the US a lot of money, generate a lot of new tax revenue, and it all came out of Mexico's pockets into ours. What Americans decide to do with it through the Congress is well ... up to Americans and their elected representatives, because that is how our system works.

Trump always said Mexico would pay for the wall, one way or another, and he meant it. He's done his part, now it's up to the American people to decide whether they actually want to spend some of the money Trump got US on the wall. According to the majority of their newly elected representatives, it does not appear so. It appears they want to spend the money on something else. And so it goes. Elections have consequences, and this was a very informed electorate who voted on November 6, 2018. It was also not a close election, the electorate voted overwhelmingly to return power to the DemoQuacks who campaigned on stopping Trump's Wall. They will not back down on this, why would they? I don't know why any intelligent person would think or even hope they would. Trump can build some of it through the military if he chooses to do so, but it's tricky, it has to fit the definition of a national emergency or counter illegal drug operations which together could be used to build walls in high-traffic pedestrian crossing areas and high-volume drug trafficking corridors. There will be lawsuits filed to stop him, but we'll see what happens.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Judy

I can see that you are very distressed. Is it because you're afraid Trump will get credit for the big beautiful steel wall at least the portions he got funded? Why is that an issue for you? If you want a wall, which apparently you do, why wouldn't a big tall 30 foot high steel bollard wall be okay with you? Do you own stock in a concrete company, is that why you don't like the steel wall? Do you not understand the word wall in our language? Is that the problem?

I remember you totally supported the 2006 Fence Act, so it's a little disturbing to me that you won't support this big beautiful American-made bollard steel wall Trump is putting up to replace and extend that useless ugly piece of garbage that has proven itself to be a complete waste of US taxpayer money that you totally supported in 2005 and 2006.

---

Do you not understand facts, truth, honesty, and integrity?

You're misrepresenting facts, supporting dishonesty, and could obviously careless about the truth.

Quote:

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I can see that you are very distressed.

---

More disappointed than anything. I don't appreciate being lied to!

Quote:

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Is it because you're afraid Trump will get credit for the big beautiful steel wall at least the portions he got funded?

---

This year’s congressional spending bill allocated $1.6 billion for border security, $38 million of which was set aside for border fencing repair, maintenance, and construction. However, it specifically stated that it must be the same fencing used by previous administrations. The steel bollard wall Trump keeps boasting about is nothing new. There is already some of that same fencing along the border that is 18 to 30 foot tall. If you don't believe me, check out the steel bollard fencing in Nogales, Ariz. That is basically the same fence Trump is pretending is all new and the brainchild of his administration, which isn't true. I believe that fencing was built around 2011. There is also some steel bollard fencing in San Diego. They were calling it PV-1 fencing. There is probably more of the fencing in other locations that I'm not familiar with.

Quote:

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why wouldn't a big tall 30 foot high steel bollard wall be okay with you?

---

First off, it's not a wall and it's certainly not the wall Trump campaigned for or promised! Fact: Trump hasn't put up one foot of his promised wall. What he is attempting to do though is accept credit for some fencing that was approved during the Obama administration. Trump has no authorization from the U.S. Congress to build a new wall. The language in the last funding bill was very clear on that point.

Quote:

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I remember you totally supported the 2006 Fence Act, so it's a little disturbing to me that you won't support this big beautiful American-made bollard steel wall Trump is putting up to replace and extend that useless ugly piece of garbage that has proven itself to be a complete waste of US taxpayer money that you totally supported in 2005 and 2006.

---

Wow, talk about being misinformed. Obviously you're not very familiar with the details and boondoggle surrounding that fence plan. The fencing never materialized as promised. Sort of like Trump's promised wall won't materialize. Don't you remember the amendment to the bill that was pushed through by the U.S. Senate in 2007?

Nearly 700 Miles of Fencing at the US-Mexico Border Already Exist

By Julia Jacobo
Serena Marshall

Jan 26, 2017, 6:38 AM ET

President Donald Trump's longtime campaign promise of building a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border could be one step closer to fruition after he signed an executive order Wednesday announcing a series of steps to deter "illegal immigration from Central America."

But some 700 miles of border fencing had already been completed along the country's nearly 2,000-mile border with Mexico, much of it during Barack Obama's presidency, as part of the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which was signed by George W. Bush.

The type of fencing that extends from California to Texas varies according to the terrain and the population of the areas it borders, according to images released by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2011. The types of fencing includes wire mesh, chain link, post and rail, sheet piling, concrete barriers for vehicles and X-shaped steel beams for livestock.

Trump has said he wants a concrete barrier as high as 55 feet tall and has described his proposed wall as "impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful."

Under the Secure Fence Act, the pedestrian border fencing completed in fiscal year 2007 was estimated to cost about $2.8 million per mile, according to a 2009 report from the Government Accountability Office. It was constructed using mostly the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Guard, according to the Congressional Research Service. The 2009 report also found that fencing constructed in fiscal year 2008, which mostly used private contractors, cost about $3.9 million per mile.

“Beginning today, the United States of America gets back control of its borders, gets back its borders,” Trump said Wednesday at the Department of Homeland Security after signing two executive orders related to immigration. The executive order calls for the immediate construction of a physical wall on the southern border to achieve "operational control," which it defines as "the prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States, including entries by terrorists, other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics, and other contraband.”

Building a new 1,000-mile wall could cost as much as $40 billion, according to an analysis published in the MIT Technology Review. Maintenance of barriers along the southern border will also be costly. The Congressional Research Service estimated in 2009 that double layer fencing would cost an estimated $16.4 million to $70 million per mile over 25 years, depending on the amount of damage sustained.

During Wednesday's press conference, Trump did not specify how he plans to pay for the wall, but in the executive order he asks to allocate available sources of federal funding to the "planing, designing, and constructing of a physical wall" as well as to project long-term funding requirements from the Congressional Budget Office. He also calls for each executive department and agency to identify and report all foreign aid to Mexico.

Earlier this month, Trump said that Mexico will reimburse the U.S for the cost of building the wall. Mexican officials have repeatedly said they will not pay for the wall.

On Wednesday, the new president said that he has "deep admiration for the people of Mexico," adding that he looks forward to meeting with Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto and that he "truly" believes that the U.S. and Mexico can improve relations going forward.

Peña Nieto may cancel a visit with Trump scheduled for next week in response to today's announcement, a Mexican official told ABC News. The Mexican president has been under fire in his country recently for being seen as too accommodating to Trump.

During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, newly-minted DHS Secretary Gen. John Kelly said that "a physical barrier in and of itself will not do the job."

"It has to be a layered defense," he said, adding that even with a wall extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, you would still have to back that wall up with patrolling by human beings, sensors and observation devices, he said.

Border Patrol already employs a "digital wall" composed of about 8,000 cameras, which monitor the southern fence and ports of entry. Its resources also include more than 11,000 underground senors, 107 aircraft, eight drones, 175 mobile surveillance units and 84 boats.

“We can spend billions of dollars to build a 10-foot wall on top of a 10,000-foot mountain,” former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said in November, “but if you’ve come all the way from Central America, it’s not going to stop you.”

The president predicted Wednesday that his executive orders will "save thousands of lives, millions of jobs, and billions and billions of dollars."

ABC News' Geneva Sands and Jordyn Phelps contributed to this report.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/700-miles-...ry?id=45045054

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Judy

Nearly 700 Miles of Fencing at the US-Mexico Border Already Exist

By Julia Jacobo
Serena Marshall

Jan 26, 2017, 6:38 AM ET

President Donald Trump's longtime campaign promise of building a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border could be one step closer to fruition after he signed an executive order Wednesday announcing a series of steps to deter "illegal immigration from Central America."

But some 700 miles of border fencing had already been completed along the country's nearly 2,000-mile border with Mexico, much of it during Barack Obama's presidency, as part of the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which was signed by George W. Bush.

The type of fencing that extends from California to Texas varies according to the terrain and the population of the areas it borders, according to images released by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2011. The types of fencing includes wire mesh, chain link, post and rail, sheet piling, concrete barriers for vehicles and X-shaped steel beams for livestock.

Trump has said he wants a concrete barrier as high as 55 feet tall and has described his proposed wall as "impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful."

Under the Secure Fence Act, the pedestrian border fencing completed in fiscal year 2007 was estimated to cost about $2.8 million per mile, according to a 2009 report from the Government Accountability Office. It was constructed using mostly the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Guard, according to the Congressional Research Service. The 2009 report also found that fencing constructed in fiscal year 2008, which mostly used private contractors, cost about $3.9 million per mile.

“Beginning today, the United States of America gets back control of its borders, gets back its borders,” Trump said Wednesday at the Department of Homeland Security after signing two executive orders related to immigration. The executive order calls for the immediate construction of a physical wall on the southern border to achieve "operational control," which it defines as "the prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States, including entries by terrorists, other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics, and other contraband.”

Building a new 1,000-mile wall could cost as much as $40 billion, according to an analysis published in the MIT Technology Review. Maintenance of barriers along the southern border will also be costly. The Congressional Research Service estimated in 2009 that double layer fencing would cost an estimated $16.4 million to $70 million per mile over 25 years, depending on the amount of damage sustained.

During Wednesday's press conference, Trump did not specify how he plans to pay for the wall, but in the executive order he asks to allocate available sources of federal funding to the "planing, designing, and constructing of a physical wall" as well as to project long-term funding requirements from the Congressional Budget Office. He also calls for each executive department and agency to identify and report all foreign aid to Mexico.

Earlier this month, Trump said that Mexico will reimburse the U.S for the cost of building the wall. Mexican officials have repeatedly said they will not pay for the wall.

On Wednesday, the new president said that he has "deep admiration for the people of Mexico," adding that he looks forward to meeting with Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto and that he "truly" believes that the U.S. and Mexico can improve relations going forward.

Peña Nieto may cancel a visit with Trump scheduled for next week in response to today's announcement, a Mexican official told ABC News. The Mexican president has been under fire in his country recently for being seen as too accommodating to Trump.

During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, newly-minted DHS Secretary Gen. John Kelly said that "a physical barrier in and of itself will not do the job."

"It has to be a layered defense," he said, adding that even with a wall extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, you would still have to back that wall up with patrolling by human beings, sensors and observation devices, he said.

Border Patrol already employs a "digital wall" composed of about 8,000 cameras, which monitor the southern fence and ports of entry. Its resources also include more than 11,000 underground senors, 107 aircraft, eight drones, 175 mobile surveillance units and 84 boats.

“We can spend billions of dollars to build a 10-foot wall on top of a 10,000-foot mountain,” former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said in November, “but if you’ve come all the way from Central America, it’s not going to stop you.”

The president predicted Wednesday that his executive orders will "save thousands of lives, millions of jobs, and billions and billions of dollars."

ABC News' Geneva Sands and Jordyn Phelps contributed to this report.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/700-miles-...ry?id=45045054

---

I saw a could be one step closer, and speculation on how to get the money---I did not see anything defining what the EO said or what had been done.

I did see one more outrageous lie----“Beginning today, the United States of America gets back control of its borders, gets back its borders,” Trump said Wednesday

That was Jan 2017 and instead of getting control of the border, it got worse, much worse.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MW

Do you not understand facts, truth, honesty, and integrity?

You're misrepresenting facts, supporting dishonesty, and could obviously careless about the truth.



More disappointed than anything. I don't appreciate being lied to!



This year’s congressional spending bill allocated $1.6 billion for border security, $38 million of which was set aside for border fencing repair, maintenance, and construction. However, it specifically stated that it must be the same fencing used by previous administrations. The steel bollard wall Trump keeps boasting about is nothing new. There is already some of that same fencing along the border that is 18 to 30 foot tall. If you don't believe me, check out the steel bollard fencing in Nogales, Ariz. That is basically the same fence Trump is pretending is all new and the brainchild of his administration, which isn't true. I believe that fencing was built around 2011. There is also some steel bollard fencing in San Diego. They were calling it PV-1 fencing. There is probably more of the fencing in other locations that I'm not familiar with.



First off, it's not a wall and it's certainly not the wall Trump campaigned for or promised! Fact: Trump hasn't put up one foot of his promised wall. What he is attempting to do though is accept credit for some fencing that was approved during the Obama administration. Trump has no authorization from the U.S. Congress to build a new wall. The language in the last funding bill was very clear on that point.



Wow, talk about being misinformed. Obviously you're not very familiar with the details and boondoggle surrounding that fence plan. The fencing never materialized as promised. Sort of like Trump's promised wall won't materialize. Don't you remember the amendment to the bill that was pushed through by the U.S. Senate in 2007?

---

So Congress refused to fund Trump's Wall, but funded Obama's Fence while Trump is President.

I get it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stoptheinvaders

I saw a could be one step closer, and speculation on how to get the money---I did not see anything defining what the EO said or what had been done.

I did see one more outrageous lie----“Beginning today, the United States of America gets back control of its borders, gets back its borders,” Trump said Wednesday

That was Jan 2017 and instead of getting control of the border, it got worse, much worse.

---

Trump's EO's were challenged by lawsuits and blocked by Court Rulings. The funding for his wall was blocked by Congress.

Trump claims credit for decades-old border structures

Such a dishonest headline. ABC is as totally corrupt as CNN, MSNBC, NBC, Washington Post and New York Times. It's appalling what these once great press and news organizations have reduced themselves to. SAD!!!

Troops remove razor wire from the Texas border and head home

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Trump claims credit for decades-old border structures

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The article pretty much proves that President Trump should receive the "liar of the decade award" for 2018. Anyone that has any doubts about the real truth should read this article.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MW

The article pretty much proves that President Trump should receive the "liar of the decade award" for 2018. Anyone that has any doubts about the real truth should read this article.

---

Repost of article so everyone can read it who would like to without clicking on ABC.

Fact Check: Trump claims credit for decades-old border structures

By MaryAlice Parks
Quinn Owen

Dec 12, 2018, 4:28 AM ET

President Donald Trump insisted on Tuesday that much of the border wall he wants has already been built and has been "very effective."

But he appears to be referring to old border fencing built decades ago. And, despite his hard-line policies and tough rhetoric, border arrests have actually spiked in the past year.

Here's a look at what Trump said during a tense meeting with congressional Democrats and why it doesn't match reality:

Trump: "A lot of the wall is built. It has been very effective. I asked for a couple of notes on that. If you look at San Diego, illegal traffic dropped 92 percent once the wall was up. El Paso, illegal traffic dropped 72 percent then ultimately 95 percent once the wall was up. In Tucson, Arizona, illegal traffic dropped 92 percent. Yuma, it dropped illegal traffic 95 to 96 percent. When I say dropped, the only reason we have any percentage where people got through is because they walk and go around areas that are not built. It dropped virtually 100 percent in the areas where the wall is. It is very effective."

Let's break it down claim-by-claim:

New sections of the border wall

Trump: “A lot of the wall is built. It has been very effective.”

Trump ran for president promising a 1,000-mile wall that Mexico would pay for it. That hasn't happened.

Under Trump, the military has installed 70 miles of concertina wire. Separately, border authorities have worked on improving existing structures. Only one of those projects, the Calexico border effort in California, started and finished under Trump.

Also, while Trump says that border fencing has been "very effective," he doesn't mention that illegal border crossings are actually back on the rise.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, there were nearly 397,000 people arrested trying to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border in the 2018 budget year. That number represents a spike from the 300,000 figure in 2017 and puts levels on par with 2016 before Trump took office.

Illegal traffic

Trump: “San Diego, illegal traffic dropped 92 percent once the wall was up.”

According to DHS, the “wall” in San Diego was built in 1992, and, the agency spokesperson told ABC News, “Illegal traffic has dropped 92 percent over the past 23 years.”

There has also been a new border construction project at Calexico in California. That 2.25 mile project replaced existing fencing and sits about 120 miles from San Diego. Planning to improve border security there began before Trump took office, but the construction started and finished under his watch.

Trump: “El Paso, illegal traffic dropped 72 percent then ultimately 95 percent once the wall was up.”

DHS tells ABC News, El Paso border security was built in 1993 and afterward illegal traffic “dropped 72 percent in one year and 95 percent over 22 years.”

This administration completed a remodeling project there too, but that project started before Trump was in office.

Trump: “In Tucson, Arizona, illegal traffic dropped 92 percent. Yuma, it dropped illegal traffic 95 percent to 96 percent.”

DHS officials said that the Tucson structure was built in 2000 and Yuma construction started in 2005 -- both well before Trump was elected. DHS officials said that illegal traffic has dropped in Tucson by 90 percent in the past 15 years, and by 95 percent in nine years. This suggests the drop wasn't the result of any of Trump's policies.

Trump: "People are pouring into our country, including terrorists. We have terrorists. But we caught 10 terrorists. These are over the last very short period of time -- 10."

This figure probably comes from Trump's Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who has said previously that DHS blocks "10 known or suspected terrorists a day from traveling to or attempting to enter the U.S."

But that figure is not specific to migration at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The State Department said in a report last year that there was "no credible information" that any member of a terrorist group traveled through Mexico to enter the U.S.

ABC News' Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.

_____________

Trump is making the point that good fence style wall structures like in the areas he mentioned and cited the statistics for worked well to reduce illegal immigration at those locations. His point is where there is a proper wall, the walls work.

If MW considers that a "lie", then well, gee ... that would mean walls don't work and Trump is lying when he claims they do.

Not sure where you're heading MW, but for people who want a wall and believe they work, then Trump is 100% right, and you're the one with a truther problem.