Trump wanted 5.7. Guess he’s got it but let’s cut the crap. will it work?
Define "work".
Until we get serious about promptly deporting illegal aliens of all sorts, until we get serious about cutting off all government benefits to illegal aliens of all sorts, we will have a serious illegal alien problem.
“Trump wanted 5.7. Guess he’s got it but let’s cut the crap. will it work?”
He asked for 5.7 to do 234 specific miles of barrier. Congress appropriated about 1.4 to do 55 miles. If the President does spend everything he identified in the emergency declaration, that would be about $8 billion to do about 300-400 miles.
The Trump program prioritizes the segments that have the highest traffic first - the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas, and the cities along the border.
The bottom line is that $8 billion is enough money to button up the Rio Grande Valley and the border cities, where more than 3/4 of traffic now passes. It would be a big change, but not complete operational control of the border. It would be such a big change though, that Democrats are jumping on grenades to prevent it.
Those miles are the most important to traffic, but also the most difficult and expensive to build (lots of private property, and flood control requires massive FEMA hurricane certified levee as the foundation). After that, everything else is much cheaper, faster and easier to build. As such, this year’s contracting effort is really the main fight in getting an effective wall built.
The total plan, which the President directed by Executive Order his first week in office (delivered to Congress in March of 2018), called for $25 billion over 5 years, to build 1,100 miles of barrier, hire thousands more Border Patrol, ICE and immigration judge teams; and several technology programs. That is what would work for complete operational control of the Southern border. Immigration law and incentives have to change as well to effectively control immigration.
If the Administration can get all of this year’s $8 billion on contract, and get the $8.6 he is requesting for next year (which will be another blood bath), they would be able to contract the whole 1,100 planned miles (construction would likely take a couple more years to complete).
Without much fanfare, technology is already starting to roll out (some is included with each mile of new barrier, others are separate programs). After a surge in judge hiring, that is now drying up, and the hiring of Border Patrol and ICE fell far short of goals.
The long pole in the tent though, is closing the asylum and child loopholes, which are big enough to drive a caravan through. Democrats will never allow it while they hold the House.