New border wall construction begins in California

"Hopefully, San Ysidro is close to the top of the list as well."

Tippy Top.

The Trump Administration started working on the San Diego/Tijuana border (The largest urban area along the US/Mexican border) with the very first Appropriation they got in 2017.

The first fence that Mexicans encounter coming North (called the Primary Barrier), has been completely replaced, from Near the Ocean (the end of the pre-existing bollards) all the way to the mountain East of Otay Mesa. The decaying old landing mat fence is now completely gone, replaced with 18 foot concrete-filled steel bollards, set in deep reinforced concrete foundations at least two feet thick.

This stuff is gone:

Replaced with this:

The prototypes that were built near Otay Mesa to evaluate designs for the wall, have also been demolished:

To make way for a second 14 mile run of mighty 30 foot tall bollards, about 150 feet behind the new 18 foot bollard wall (1 and 1/2 miles of that secondary barrier will close off areas that previously had no secondary barrier at all):

The enforcement zone between these two mighty barriers is being transformed as well. Significant work has been done clearing fields of view, grading to put in higher speed patrol road, Stadium lighting, complete monitoring by fixed cameras, and a suite of sensor and alarm systems. They should start wrapping up the project around Christmas time, this year. The San Diego border is going to be buttoned up like never before. It is quieting down already.

Yet another never-Trump poser. Don't worry, in 2024 you'll get another chance to elect yet another insider establishment backstabbing stooge. Just look at what they did at the border for the past 50 years. Like what your last Republican rat did with their America Last doctrine.

Dallas Texas 2006, during war time, under Republican George Bush.

500,000 illegal aliens march on Dallas Texas pushing foreign flags in our faces and while making demands and threats. All while Bush celebrated Cinco De Mayo up in the White House...During war time. And this went on in every major city in America. And some of you people bitch at Trump as he's surrounded by seditious insider globalist throwing down spike strips in front of Trump every inch of the way.

Spit*

“I am not sufficiently impressed by a mere 11 mile border wall”

It is contracted out in segments, that each have their own contract award dates, and different start dates (groundbreaking).

This story simply reported the start of work on just two of those segments, which just started on Thursday (11 miles in Calexico, and 4 in Tecate).

A lot of work must go into a multi-billion dollar Federal construction project - before any ground is broken. The exact route must be detailed (accounting for flood/drainage and property issues), construction has to be prioritized according to operational need, design specifications must be finalized and certified, contract vehicles need to be established and vendors screened and approved to compete on them, private property must be acquired or condemned under eminent domain, nuisance lawsuits from Leftist Front groups must be defeated, and so on. So the first year is necessarily planning and preparation.

The President issued his Executive order to achieve full operational control of the border, during his first week in office. DHS completed their comprehensive analysis and submitted it to Congress in March of 2018 (calling for $25 billion over five years, 1,100 miles of barrier, thousands of additional full time positions and several technology programs). Congress provided some relatively minor feedback, and the revised plan was finally submitted in December of 2018.

In the interim, there was broad agreement on some barrier priorities, and Congress funded 40 miles in 2017 (since completed) and 80 more in 2018 (including the two segments from this story, that just started work). The loss of Republican control of the House in the Midterms resulted in Congress short-changing the 2019 funding for the large scale deployment for which the program had scaled up - only funding 55 more miles.

The President’s subsequent declaration of an emergency in March (2019) identified several billion dollars from other sources (mostly within the Military), that could fund hundreds of miles of barrier. Nuisance lawsuits are attempting to run out the clock on being able to spend that money - but it is now the main battle in the barrier program. The first miles on the priority list are dramatically more effective than the last, so completing the first few hundred miles accounts for the great majority of current traffic (border cities and the Rio Grande Valley).

The battle is being waged hammer and tong. We are fortunate to have a world class builder leading the effort, who really knows how to drive his staff (or they’re fired!). He has cut through a lot of the complexity, and achieved dramatically short timeframes, compared to Federal construction norms. Construction funds are appropriated as five year money (five years to spend it), because that is the normal duration for such projects. All the money appropriated two years ago for this program has not only been spent, but the segments have been completed and accepted by the Government. The 2018 funding was not received until very late in the year, but was obligated onto contracts even much more quickly than the 2017 funding. This year, DoD reprogrammed a billion dollars and awarded contracts in a shockingly fast matter of weeks (a protest, lawsuits, and a San Francisco judge have delayed groundbreaking on those segments, as of today).

The bottom line is that we started the year building a total of about a half mile of barrier per week, and are projected to end this year building about a half mile per day.

It has been a very hard and unrelenting slog to make progress in the face of all the layers of resistance. Few people could have done it, but President Trump has. He pulled out all the stops, and kept a fire lit under those responsible.

But to idiots like you, simply disagreeing or not liking a policy of Trump’s makes one a NeverTrumper.

The difference between you and I are I understand there has never been a president like Trump and I'm very confident after the Trump era, there never will be again. So I will not bad mouth or discredit the greatest president in modern America history. We are very fortunate Trump came along when he did and actually won and seized power from those with bad intent. It's why he's the most hated, demeaned, discredited and most threatened president in history. I refuse to be part of that, knowing he's surrounded in every direction by enemies who throw knives at his back 24/7.

Another big difference between us is you fall into the perpetually defeated group, which you yourself have stated the swamp will win, no one will be held responsible, charged, prosecuted etc. I flat out refuse to buy that at this point.

Ya see, I have more trust in Trump and am confident based on physical documentary evidence, people will be held responsible in the end. I don't see all of it being somehow forgotten or simply brushed under the rug with a wink and a nod.

If what you believe happens in the end, it's all over after the Trump era when he eventually leaves office. There will be no faith, confidence, allegiance or trust left for this government. Zip. At that point the entrenched evil ruling class evil will have won and that'll be it. They will have succeeded in permanently dividing the once united. All bets will be off.

He yelled about the wall all during the campaign and fired up the mob. I welcome any construction, but.................

The day after the election he should have asked Ryan and Turtle to provide funding. If they didn’t by Jan 21,2017, he should have declared the emergency then.

The legal battles are not over. Just starting. The 1974 law regarding Emergency Dec gives the congress the check and balance over his emergency powers. we know congress failed to override the declaration. There is no role for the judiciary in the country’s response to emergencies. Can’t give federal judges the power to slow or stop our response to an emergency. Trump defers to the courts’ authority as he did with the “migrants from terrorist country” initiative. If he does the same now, he will have a major problem next November.

11 miles at a time is okay if you keep doing it.

Full steam ahead, courts be damned.

My position is those who've attempted and conspired to compromise, undermine and overthrow a legitimate presidential candidate then a legitimately elected president, will be held responsible which would be a big deterrent for anyone contemplating doing the same in the future. No?

You on the other hand have said, paraphrasing, "No one will be arrested, charged, tried or serve a single day in jail" and you went on to say after the Trump administration ends in 2024 it’s all over anyway".

How would it be all over, if those responsible for these crimes were held responsible?

It seems you're suggesting even if top directors, high office holders and other players are held responsible, it won't do any good anyway.

It begs the question. So why even bother going after the corrupt swamp? What would be the point?

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