Border Wall Update – Yesterday’s “News” is much ado about nothing
Bottom Line: It’s days like yesterday’s Bloomberg article, citing that only 1.7 new miles of border wall have been constructed this year, Drudge’s headline and Brian Kilmeade’s concerns on Fox & Friends that cause my head to hurt. In case you missed the story that was gleefully bandied about by many MSM outlets yesterday, because apparently your average news organization is completely cool without southern border security too...there was story first published by Bloomberg, made the headline for the Drudge Report and lamented by Brian Kilmeade that created a bit of a firestorm. One that resulted in the president Tweeting about it. The reason my head hurts is this. As recently as about two weeks ago in my most recent border wall update story – I clearly laid out what’s go on. I’ll walk you back to the facts that I’ve pulled directly from DHS info (and have consistently done throughout the past couple of years).
- The US currently has 654 miles of physical barriers on the southern border
- Work is ongoing to replace 280 miles of the existing border wall/fencing.
Let’s pause here for a second. What does that tell you? 43% of the existing border wall/fencing needed to be replaced. It’s not new information. Just apparently new to Bloomberg and Brian Kilmeade. And Matt Drudge is happy to stir the pot and drive traffic to his site. Here’s what President Trump Tweeted about it yesterday:
Much of the Wall being built at the Southern Border is a complete demolition and rebuilding of old and worthless barriers with abrand newWall and footings. Problem is, the Haters say that is not a new Wall, but rather a renovation. Wrong, and we must build where most needed....
Also, tremendous work is being done on pure renovation - fixing existing Walls that are in bad condition andineffective, andbringing them to a very high standard!
So, about the new wall... As I’ve also shared with you previously the original wall funding for expansion for the budget deal achieves this...
- 55 miles of a new “border wall” in the Rio Grande
And the estimated timeline for completion of that project is the end of September. Additionally, the funds freed up by the Pentagon two weeks ago are earmarked for an additional 63 miles of wall but that clearly hasn’t had time to commence yet. So, let’s recap. There’s no new information here. Just a news media generally derelict of duty becoming surprised because they discovered old news and lack any and all context for what’s going on. As I’ve mentioned right along. If you’ve followed my updates, nothing’s changed. Here’s one bit of new information I can share with you. The current pace for wall construction is a half-mile per day.