One of President Donald Trump’s basic promises was building a border wall.
It’s been going up and now some of the results are in, and the new chief of the border patrol is saying the new wall system “changes everything.”
Chief Rodney Scott said that there has been a big change where the 135-136 miles of new wall, roadways and high tech spyware has gone up.
According to Scott, parts of the wall were 90% effective, up from just 10% prior to the new parts being installed. “It changes everything,” he said. “There is a huge return on investment,” he added.
From Washington Examiner:
In the San Diego area, Scott said that the wall has essentially ended illegal crossings of humans and cars.And, in an added benefit, it now requires 150 fewer border agents, a savings of $28 million in salaries and benefits, he said at a press briefing, his first since he and Ortiz took over CBP in January.Plus, with a better border road, vehicles that once fell apart at 40,000-60,000 miles now last to 100,000 miles before they are auctioned off.“There is return after return,” said Scott.The wall is especially good at stopping trucks and cars, he said, because it takes too much time and effort to saw through several wall bollards needed to make an opening that is big enough to drive through.“The border wall system all but stopped that completely,” he said.
Scott said that in and around San Ysidro, the wall has even brought an economic boost because now the area is safer. There’s now a factory outlet mall that creates $6.6 million in local tax revenue and a pricey housing development. The beachfront Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve has also improved with less drug trafficking through the area.
It goes without saying also that the fact that immigration enforcement, the wall and using Mexico like a wall with the Remain in Mexico program is more important than ever now with the concern about the Wuhan virus, especially if people are entering illegally and can’t be checked coming from affected areas like China. One of the biggest non-Mexican, non-Central American illegal groups across the border is Chinese people. Trump had officially shut down legal entry in January from affected areas of China. Of course now, the virus is in multiple countries so it’s definitely a good defense to have in hand.