Former President Donald Trump’s infamous border wall is peeling and frequently breached by smugglers, reports The Washington Post.
During the three year period between 2019 and 2021, the border wall was breached 3,272 times, according to unpublished U.S. Customs and Border Protection maintenance records obtained by the outlet. CBP spent $2.6 million to repair the damage.
The Post reports:
Smuggling gangs typically cut the barrier with inexpensive power tools widely available at retail hardware stores, including angle grinders and demolition saws. Once the 18-to-30-foot-tall bollards are severed near the ground, their only remaining point of attachment is at the top of the structure, leaving the steel beam dangling in the air. It easily swings open with a push, creating a gap wide enough for people and narcotics to pass through.
A spokesman for CBP, Luis Miranda, said effective border security “requires a variety of resources and efforts, infrastructure, technology, and personnel.”
“No structure is impenetrable, so we will continue to work to focus resources on modern, effective border management measures to improve safety and security,” Miranda said in a statement.
CBP works quickly to repair the holes in the wall, but gaps are often effectively concealed by smugglers using colored putty. That enables them to return to the same egresses over and over.
Smugglers also use ladders and ropes to scale the wall. Some are simply able to climb over it.
The Post also provides key context:
Trump promised Mexico would pay for the structure, but his administration spent roughly $11 billion in taxpayer funds, most of which he diverted from Defense Department accounts. At rallies, Trump likened his wall to a “Rolls-Royce,” but he stopped claiming the barrier was “impenetrable” in 2019 after The Post reported smugglers had learned to saw through it with conventional power tools.
“We have a very powerful wall,” Trump said when asked about the breaches. “But no matter how powerful, you can cut through anything.”
Trump’s insistence that the steel wall be painted black – which he claimed would make it too hot to touch – has also presented maintenance issues.
The Post explains:
Advisers warned the paint would drive up maintenance costs and not significantly increase the thermal properties of the steel, but Trump waved them off. The Post observed several locations west of Sasabe, Ariz., where the wall’s black paint is already peeling off, less than 18 months after it was applied.
The Biden administration stopped construction of the wall upon taking office and has urged Congress to redirect funding earmarked for it toward other border control initiatives, like sensors.
