Border Wall Update - September 2020
Bottom Line: It’s been nearly three months since my previous update on the border wall and a lot has happened – though most of it doesn’t make the news. Four years ago, during the homestretch of the Presidential election, the wall conversation was front and center in the daily conversation. It’s interesting that the daily progress being made with the construction of our Southern border wall, with a corresponding decline in illegal immigration, is being ignored by news media this time around. As for that progress, here’s the latest based on data available from Customs and Border Patrol entering September:
- Over 900 miles of border wall
- 317 New miles of wall under the Trump administration
- 46% of our Southern border with Mexico containing some form of barrier – up from 34% pre-Trump
- An average of 18 miles of new wall being built per month
Aside from this progress is another interesting dynamic. At the pace from a year ago it would have taken 59 years to complete President Trump’s vision of a border wall with Mexico. Because of the progress made over the past year, that’s now down to 4.5 years. Maybe it’s just a coincidence or maybe the pace has deliberately picked up to that level, regardless, if President Trump were reelected and kept the wall moving along at about this pace or a little better...he’d have the border wall complete just about the time he’d exit office. You can already envision him existing office with a big banner saying, “Promises Made, Promises Kept”. Of course, all of that is dependent on him winning a second term. To be continued...