Trump Endorsed Candidates Facing Scrutiny Over Their Pasts
New York federal prosecutors on Thursday charged President Donald Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon and three others with defrauding donors of hundreds of thousands of dollars as part of a fundraising campaign purportedly aimed at supporting Trump’s border wall.
How Much Is New
Various types of fencing totalling 654 miles were already in place before Mr Trump became president in 2017.
These ran through the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
The Trump administration say they’ve completed more than 400 miles of border wall since then.
It’s 452 miles in total, according to the latest US Customs and Border Protection information .
However, only 80 miles of new barriers have been built where there were none before – that includes 47 miles of primary wall, and 33 miles of secondary wall built to reinforce the initial barrier.
The vast majority of the 452 miles is replacing existing structures at the border that had been built by previous US administrations.
President Trump has argued that this should be regarded as new wall, because it’s replacing what he called “old and worthless barriers.”
Trumps Partially Built Big Beautiful Wall
In the end, President Donald Trump built a mere fraction of what he promised.
On` June 23, 2020, President Donald Trump tours a section of the border wall in San Luis, Ariz. | AP Photo/Evan Vucci
01/12/2021 04:21 PM EST
-
Link Copied
Donald Trump is approaching the end of his presidency the same way he started his candidacy: talking about a border wall.
It has been more than five years since Trump announced his presidential bid with a promise to build a great, great wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. In the end, Trump built a mere fraction of what he promised, 452 miles of a wall most of which replaced old, existing fencing. And he never got Mexico to pay for it.
Still, Trumpvisitedthe city of Alamo in Texas Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday to tout the border wall as a promise made, promise kept by his administration while he faces a House vote on Wednesday to impeach him again and he continues to face fallout from his own party for urging his followers to march to the U.S. Capitol, which resulted in a deadly riot.
But his partially built border wall is a reminder, in the end, of unfulfilled promises. However, Democrats, former U.S. and Mexico officials, immigrant advocates and migration experts agree: It remains a symbol of the Trump presidency, defined from the beginning by anti-immigrant rhetoric and hardline policies.
This was always about a larger symbolism about walling off America from outside dangers, Selee added.
- Filed Under:
Don’t Miss: Where Is President Trump’s Next Rally
How Much ‘new Wall’ Trump Has Built Is Up For Debate
Any calculation of the miles of new wall constructed by Mr Trump and his administration depends very much on the definition of the words “new” and “wall”.
Before he took office, there were 654 miles of barrier along the southern border – made up of 354 miles of barricades to stop pedestrians and 300 miles of anti-vehicle fencing.
Now, according to US Customs and Border Protection in its 6 October status report, the southern border has 669 miles of “primary barrier” – the first structure people heading from Mexico to the US will encounter – and 65 miles of “secondary barrier” – which usually runs behind the primary structure as a further obstacle.
This means that in areas where no barricades existed before, they have built 15 miles of new, primary barrier or “border wall system”, as it is called by CBP.
ââAbout a further 350 miles of barrier has been built, according to CBP, made up of replacement structures and some new secondary barrier.
More is planned, too, with 378 miles of new and replacement barrier either under construction or in the “pre-construction phase”. Less than half of this will be in locations where no barriers currently exist, according to CBP.
However, Mr Trump himself doesn’t make a distinction between these new stretches of barrier and replacement structures, regarding both as new wall.
This is because, he says, replacements involve “complete demolition and rebuilding of old and worthless barriers”.
Prototypes Under Construction For Us
Construction of eight border wall prototypes is under way as the Department of Homeland Security seeks to advance President Donald Trump’s landmark promise.
The construction includes four concrete wall prototypes and four prototypes using “other materials.” Construction began Sept. 26 in San Diego, Calif., close to the U.S.-Mexico border. The prototypes are expected to be finished near the end of October.
The prototypes will be designed to deter illegal immigration in the area where they are constructed and be between 18 to 30 feet high, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a .
“Moving forward with the prototypes enables us to continue to incorporate all the tools necessary to secure our border,” Ronald Vitiello, CBP acting deputy commissioner, said in the news release.
In an announcing contracts awarded for concrete prototypes, Vitiello said officials will examine the prototypes’ aesthetics, how penetrable and resistant they are to tampering, and their anti-scaling or anti-climb features. Those contracts ranged from just under $400,000 to just under $500,000.
“There’s still a lot to do, right. We are going to build four prototypes for concrete and then we are going to build four other materials, and then we are going to make decisions about which is most appropriate for which location,” Vitiello said.
Evaluation of prototypes will take 30 to 60 days, he said.
Companies building concrete border wall prototypes include the following:
You May Like: How To Message President Trump
Land Seizures Arent A Legal Slam
U.S. eminent domain laws grant governments the authority to seize private property for the public good. But they also give private citizens broad recourse to challenge government actions. The border wall has been caught up in legal battles with landowners at the border who either refuse to sell or demand sky-high prices for their land.
Building the border wall is a classic example of what scholars call a holdout problem. These problems are common with large-scale development projects that require aggregating and assembling many plots of land. They are particularly acute when a project is announced publicly before its launched and when private property rights are strong.
Once a project such as a border wall is announced and it is clear that success hinges on acquiring specific pieces of land, each landowner recognizes their power to block the entire project. Landowners can flat-out refuse to cede their land and tie up the project in court, or they can demand sizable payoffs for their property that the government may not want to pay. The Texas Civil Rights Project represents landowners such as the Cavazos family, who categorically reject giving up their land despite government efforts to seize it.
Public Acquisition Of Land
Additionally, privately owned land adjacent to the border would have to be acquired by the U.S. government to be built upon. Property owners in southern Texas will lose easy access to significant portions of their land as the wall is built along but some distance from the Rio Grande. Historic gravesites in South Texas may be impacted. In 2017, satirical party-game publisher Cards Against Humanity purchased a plot of land on the border to prevent the wall from being built there.
Also Check: How Much Is A Room At Trump Tower
House Appropriations Committee Approves Funding For Border Security
A House committee has given preliminary approval to about $1.6 billion for 28 miles of a new levee wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and 46 miles of fencing.
The money for border infrastructure construction includes:
28 miles of new levee wall in the Rio Grande Valley, at $498 million
32 miles of new border fencing in the Rio Grande Valley, at $784 million and,
14 miles of secondary fencing in San Diego, Calif., at $251 million
The House Appropriations Committee on July 18 voted 30-22 on a proposed bill to provide the Department of Homeland Security with $44.3 billion in discretionary funding for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2017, and ending Sept. 30, 2018.
The proposed funding is in addition to money appropriated in fiscal year 2017 for the replacement of 40 miles of primary fencing in sectors of California and Texas .
The Associated Press reported that Republican leaders plan to attach funding for border security to a spending bill for the Defense Department and other agencies. The House is expected to consider that spending bill soon.
Details on the length and type of wall remain uncertain. In March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection began accepting proposals for the design and construction of wall prototypes solid concrete and other types. In late June, DHS told the New York Times prototype constructions would begin this summer but did not specify when exactly.
Stop : A Scarred Mountainside And A Half
“It is enraging. We have watched thousands of pounds of dynamite be detonated in wilderness areas, in corridors for endangered species, in places where there is not frequent migration from people or smugglers. … They have cut through an entire mountain range to build a small section of wall that to someone in DC was just another mile on the tally.”
Laiken Jordahl, environmental activist
Also Check: Where To Get Trump 2020 Signs
How The Wall Would Hurt The Us Economy
If immigrants are not responsible for any significant amount of crime in the United States and in fact are considerably less likely than nativeborn citizens to commit crime, then what about the other justification for President Trumps vilification of immigrants, legal and illegal, and his determination to wall them out: Do immigrants steal U.S. jobs and suppress U.S. wages?
Life of a typical migrant farm worker
75%
Donald Trump’s Border Wall Is Not As Impenetrable As He Said It Would Be
Mr. Trump’s vision for the border wall has changed over the years. He claimed that it would be “big” and “beautiful” and “concrete” and that it would be anywhere from 35 to 80 feet tall. According to an NBC News report in 2019, after spending millions of dollars on eight different border wall prototypes, he ended up going with one consisting of steel slats called bollards, rather than his beautiful concrete dream. It was the same type of construction that past administrations had used. Then the Department of Homeland Security gave it a test run with a simple hand saw and found that they were able to cut right through it. In fact, all eight of the prototypes proved to be nowhere near as invulnerable as he’d claimed the wall would be.
In reality, the fact that his wall really is penetrable is pretty much the only promise about it Trump has actually kept. As The Daily Beast reported in 2015, he himself said how easily someone could get past his big, beautiful barrier: “Once they get up there, there will be no way to get down,” he said, then had a thought. “Well, maybe a rope, but…”
Read Also: Is Trump Closing The Borders
The Founder Of We Build The Wall Was Arrested For Fraud Now Trump Wants Nothing To Do With It
Brian Kolfage filled the board of directors with Trump supporters, visited the White House, and was often photographed with members of the Trump family.
Eight months before he was arrested for allegedly using his We Build the Wall nonprofit to enrich himself, Brian Kolfage was headed to the White House.
He posted a picture of his RSVP confirmation on Twitter for the Dec. 4 visit and tagged it “#wallBuildersClub.” His wife posted Instagram photos of their two children next to Christmas trees in the East Wing.
It’s not clear whom Kolfage met with that night, or what the purpose of his visit was. The White House did not respond to inquiries about the visit, and Kolfage told BuzzFeed News it was “most likely an undocumented trip.”
But nearly immediately after starting a viral campaign that raised more than $26 million to build a privately funded border wall along the USMexico border, pictures, videos, and social media accounts show that Kolfage and We Build the Wall repeatedly tried to make connections in the White House, the Trump administration, and the first family and they succeeded. The president’s son even praised the group at a fundraising event in New Mexico funds that federal officials now allege were used to personally enrich Kolfage, Bannon, and two other associates.
As a gift, the group gave the president’s son a custom-built Springfield 1911 handgun emblazoned with their logo on the handle.
Trump Ties Wall Funding To Government Shutdown
Is President Donald Trump ready to compromise on his plan to make Mexico pay for a border wall? During an Aug. 22 rally in Phoenix, Trump brought up the wall many times but did not say that Mexico will pay for it, as he had repeatedly done on the campaign trail.
He did say one thing new to our ears: He threatened a government shutdown if “obstructionist Democrats” try to prevent the wall from being built.
“And we are building a wall on the southern border, which is absolutely necessary,” Trump said. “Now the obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it. But believe me, if we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall.”
One possible source of funding is making its way through Congress.
The House of Representatives on July 27 passed a $790 billion funding bill that includes $1.6 billion for 28 miles of new levee wall and 46 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. Congress and the White House must agree on a funding plan before Sept. 30, the start of the next fiscal year.
Trump’s threat to shut down the government comes a few weeks after a leaked transcript of a phone call between Trump and Mexican President Pena Nieto showed the two leaders butting heads over which country would foot the bill.
During the , Trump asked Nieto to stop saying publicly that Mexico will not pay for the wall because it put Trump in a political bind.
You May Like: Does Trump Take A Salary
Opiniontrump’s Wall Is Not A New Concept Authoritarians Have Built Them For Centuries
But López Obrador is not the only one allowing Trump to do whatever he wants to do in the region. The Trump “wall” of agreements to enforce American immigration policy for us extends well into Central America, and includes new third party agreements to upend the process for migrants to receive asylum in America that we have made with Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador where political leaders desperate for American aid are more than willing to criticize the American president one minute and enforce his policies the next.
Trump’s ability to get others to do his dirty work speaks to how the U.S. can still play the bully around its own backyard.
And while the virtual wall expands south, the real one is being constructed, at least in small sections, in the American southwest. From the looks of how acquiescent Central American leaders have been to Trump’s demands, however, the physical wall might not actually be needed.
Mexico is not just being asked to play the role of Trump’s virtual wall against Central American migrants Mexican migrants are now falling victim to the other walls Trump has been building. Yes, even as Mexico continues its role as Trumps enforcer, the U.S. has begun using its agreement with Guatemala to send Mexican asylum-seekers detained at the U.S. border to that third country.
