What will $5 billion in border wall funding build? 215 miles of fence
What will $5 billion in border wall funding build? 215 miles of fence, feds now say
Rafael Carranza, Arizona Republic
Published 3:02 p.m. MT Dec. 21, 2018 | Updated 3:26 p.m. MT Dec. 21, 2018
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(Photo: Nick Oza, for USA TODAY)
Homeland Security officials say they have plans to build 215 miles of new and replacement border fence, using the billions of federal dollars at issue in the budget fight that could shut down the government.
About 100 miles of fencing would be built in areas that so far lack any physical barriers, said several senior officials who spoke to reporters on Friday on condition of anonymity.
The details came as the U.S. Senate debates whether to fund $5 billion to build what officials now typically refer to as "wall," in reference to President Donald Trump's long-running campaign promise to build a "great wall" on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a government spending measure with $5 billion for the border fencing, but the bill appeared headed for defeat in the upper chamber without the support of Democrats.
The impasse would lead to a partial government shutdown days before Christmas.
MORE: Trump says he's prepared for a long government shutdown
On Friday morning, Trump urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., via Twitter to "use the Nuclear Option" — meaning to change the rules to pass the bill by a simple majority of Senate votes, rather than the 60 currently needed — to secure the border infrastructure funding.
Trump also said Democrats would take the blame for the shutdown, even though he previously claimed on camera, before Democratic leaders, that he would assume responsibility for the shutdown over border wall funding.
MORE: Is the border wall being built? Here are the facts
During Friday's press call, senior administration officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection outlined how they would use the $5 billion if Congress allocated the money.
They said that based on input from field commanders along the U.S.-Mexico border, the administration has identified the highest priority areas to build up to 215 miles of "new, replacement and secondary barriers."
Construction would be deployed first to the Texas' Rio Grande Valley, officials said. Despite being the busiest entry point for illegal entries, this area has relatively little fencing.
Reporter Dennis Wagner above what is the first sign of a fence several miles from the mouth of the Rio Grande in Texas. A USA TODAY NETWORK video production.
The USA TODAY Network recorded aerial video of every mile of the border in 2017. An interactive map in the report "The Wall," built from high-definition video of the border as well as government records and other data, shows how the Texas fencing was built with many gaps and well away from the border, with the Rio
Grande acting as the only natural barrier.
Of the 215 miles they plan to build, "well over 100" miles of new barriers would be installed, officials said Friday.
https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2...unds&auto=webpThe border fence in south Texas (Photo: A map from the USA TODAY Network report "The Wall" shows gaps in border fencing in south Texas.)
But to build new barriers, the federal government must first secure the land to build them on. Unlike other border states, most of the land along the Texas border is privately owned, and many landowners have been critical of the administration's plan to build barriers on their property.
MORE: 'Walls work'? Here's what a full survey of the border shows
A USA TODAY Network analysis shows that out of more than 330 condemnation cases in South Texas filed in the past decade as the government began to erect fencing in the area, some 80 of them remained unresolved. On the border in Texas, more than 5,000 property parcels sit within feet of the border, meaning far more private property would be required to extend the current fencing.
Administration officials said they are looking at certain properties in Texas they would have to acquire before they could build new barriers.
But they added that they hoped "to acquire land through the voluntary sale," while making it clear that "eminent domain is always an option."
As reporter Dennis Wagner makes his way along the U.S, Mexico border, a fence only a few miles long appears south of El Paso. A USA TODAY NETWORK video production.
Other priority areas the administration identified to replace aging infrastructure with newer designs included the El Centro and Yuma border areas, which they deemed "critical," as well as "significant" upgrades in the Laredo area.
But even if the funding is approved, Customs and Border Protection said any new border infrastructure likely would not look like the eight border wall prototypes built last year in San Diego.
A government watchdog office report published this year found that nearly all of the prototypes were flawed and had to some degree failed the government's design requirements.
During the call, a senior official reported learning several lessons from the construction of the prototypes and said they were being incorporated into new designs. The official, though, blasted Congress for adding language to previous funding bills that limits the construction of border barriers to existing designs.
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Border wall prototypes
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One visible element from the prototypes that has been incorporated into existing barrier designs is height.
In October, Customs and Border Protection finished installing 30-foot-tall bollard fencing in Calexico, notoriously commemorating the "completion of the first section of President Trump's border wall" with a plaque.
It contrasts with the 18-foot-tall bollards the agency has used elsewhere.
Customs and Border Protection had also previously announced plans to install 30-feet-tall bollards at a 14-mile stretch of the border near the San Luis port of entry in southwestern Arizona.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news...ed/2388281002/
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