During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump got us really excited with the idea of building a giant, beautiful wall along the country’s southern border with Mexico to keep illegal migrants from getting into the country. The tycoon promised to deliver us an “impenetrable, powerful, tall and attractive” border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, and maintained that Mexico would have to pay for it.
Fast forward to February 2018, where do we stand with the wall? What progress have we made? Are we close to succeeding in keeping out the illegal Mexican migrants who have been bringing problems to our nation?
As of now, different companies have already submitted their bids for the wall contract and eight of them were chosen to create prototypes for testing. Different companies presented creative ideas for the wall with one proposing to have the wall covered with solar panels that would generate over 2 megawatts of electricity per hour, and another proposing to make a wall big enough for a deck where tourists can walk on and enjoy the scenic views of the desert.
Russ Baumgartner, CEO of San Diego-based Concrete Contractors Company, said that their idea was to make the wall a piece of art. In their proposal, Concrete Contractors proposed to build a polished concrete wall enhanced with stones and stylish artifacts to make it a piece of admiration across the 2,000 mile border.
Another contractor proposed having extensive trenches along their wall’s design that are at least 100ft in depth, and these trenches would be used to store nuclear waste. This is somehow a cool idea because even if someone was able to climb over the wall, they would be meted by a fate too harsh to survive.
The eight selected contractors have already built their wall prototypes in a desert outside San Diego, California, and the prototypes are currently being tested. Four of the prototypes are primarily made of concrete while two of the other four are mostly made of metal. The other two are hybrid composites made of concrete, metal and steel plating. The prototypes are undergoing rigorous tests to determine their sturdiness and ability to prevent climb-over attempts, underground tunneling, and physical destruction above ground.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protections will choose the best designs among the prototypes, and begin the construction process as soon as Trump makes the construction money available.
Money, money, money! Money is all that is standing between us and our promised wall.
As you already know, Trump’s plan was to have Mexico pay for the wall. However, the Mexican president, Enrique Pena Nieto, has vehemently opposed Trump’s plans and stood ground that his country will never fund the project. This has left the two leaders’ relationship in dicey waters, with Enrique even branding Trump a threat to Mexico and comparing him to Hitler and Mussolini.
However, Trump believes that Mexico will pay for the wall in one way or the other. In a conference at Camp David in January, Trump was quoted saying “I believe Mexico will pay for the wall. I have a very good relationship with Mexico, but yes, in some form, Mexico will pay for the wall”. But in the meantime, the wall’s funding will have to come from our tax money.
It is possible that Trump plans on recouping the wall’s construction money from Mexico by using measures such as raising tariffs on imports, cutting off or heavily taxing remittances to Mexico, and increasing visa and border fees for Mexicans.
The most recent budget passed by Congress gave $20 million to the project for the prototype stage, but nothing for the construction. According to a blueprint sent to the Congress by US Customs and Border Protection, the administration currently needs $18 billion to add 316 miles of fencing and walls along the southern border, while simultaneously bolstering 407 miles of existing barricades.
As of now, funding for the wall continues to be the biggest hindrance to its ultimate materialization. On 20th January 2018, the government had to shutdown as the Democrats continued to dispute the allocation of funding towards the Wall’s construction, as well as because of disagreements on the deportation issue for individuals covered by the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) immigration policy.
All in all, we know Trump is good at flexing his muscles and that crucial funding will come through for us in one way or another.
~ Liberty Planet
