Kelly will never allow troops to protect the border. Trump floated it and Kelly immediately shot it down. Don’t get excited this is replacing existing wall not one inch of new wall. NM is about gone focus on AZ and Texas while there’s still time.
“this is replacing existing wall not one inch of new wall.”
This segment of that sector was selected because that is where the problem is the worst, where infrastructure could address it. Loads of crossers and drugs can (and do) just walk across.
If you zoom in on Google maps, you can see that the existing personnel barrier ends a couple of hundred yards from the parking lot of a big Foxconn maquiladora (https://www.google.com/maps/dir/26.9590776,-99.3889602/27.6521834,-99.633406/@31.7834188,-106.6978558,143m/data=!3m1!1e3). After that, it is vehicle barrier, which is wide open to people on foot - just about a five mile stroll into the El Paso suburbs.
It doesn’t just look bad from a security point of view - it has been proven bad in practice. It is deliberately being placed to staunch a heavy flow. These big bollards seriously deter pedestrians.
The plan for Trump’s wall is divided into three phases, prioritized by where it will have the most impact first. This segment rose into top 150 or so miles, which constitutes Phase One (the rest is San Diego, but mostly in the Rio Grande Valley of Southern Texas).
Who is the President here? Oh, forgot. Art of the deal.......right