redbloodedamerica:

I Went To The Border. We Need A Wall.

In the past year, 521,000 people have been apprehended
while crossing the United States’ southern border illegally.  In 2015, then
presidential candidate Donald Trump said that if he were to become President, America would have a big beautiful wall on its southern border.  After his
election, he sought to build a wall which would likely cost tens of billions of
dollars.  So far, he has secured $1.6 billion to build new barriers and replace old
ones. 

I’m from Massachusetts, far from the border.  Illegal immigration has never
been an issue I had strong feelings about, and honestly I wasn’t even sure if a
border wall would slow down or stop the illegal immigration.  I wanted to find
out for myself.  So I traveled to our border south of San Diego to see what’s
really going on.  

I’m Kassy Dillon with The Daily Wire, and today I’m touring our
southern border with Border Patrol Agent Tekae Michael.  The first thing Tekae told me
was that there’s a lot of construction going on on the border.  There are
currently two barriers lining the San Diego border, both of which are in the
process of being replaced.  The first wall, built in 1991, is made out of leftover
helicopter landing mats from the Vietnam War.  

In 1997, a
secondary wall made of steel mesh and barbed wire was built no more than 100
feet from the first wall.  This wall is easily penetrable and can’t really
withstand power tools.  We’ve seen hundreds of different incisions.  They’re just lining the wall.  This is people
coming and cutting through the fence and you know either putting things in
there or actually crossing in through the incision. 

In 2017, six companies were given
30 days to build prototypes for President Trump’s proposed 30-foot tall border
wall, which would replace the steel mesh barrier.  Each prototype cost $450,000, but a finalist has still not been chosen.  “You can see they’re all
different.  We did a testing and evaluation process, which took about 60 days.  The testing included anti-scaling, anti-climbing.  You could see it’s 30 feet.  It’s all very intimidating,” explains Tekae.  

In 2017, funding was secured to replace the Vietnam-era barrier with an 18-foot tall
see-thru fence made of steel posts and anti climbing plates.  This modern
fencing extends all the way into the ocean.  “We have no idea what’s on this outside.  If
I’m being assaulted, if I am you know patrolling an area and there’s a group forming
eight to ten people, I want to know and I want to be able to see what’s going on,” Tekae points out.  

Do you believe that having a barrier there is effective for helping you guys do your
job?  “Absolutely.  Any type of infrastructure that we can put into place it
essentially just gives Border Patrol Agents time,” she says.  

So what dangers do Border
Patrol agents face that the normal person wouldn’t think of?   “We’re often in
remote locations.  We patrol usually by ourselves in a vehicle, so we’re
constantly needing to remain vigilant about anything coming across that we
can’t see.  So, whether it’s anybody trying to assault us on the south side.”  What do you mean by assault?  “Any blunt-force object that they can get their
hands on – whether it’s a big boulder, softball-sized rock – we’ve seen different
kind of weapons.  The cartels own this entire border.  Whatever they need to use in
order to continue north into our country they’ll do it by any means necessary.” 

After
visiting the border, I’ve realized that more effective barriers can help our
Border Patrol Agents stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking.  Whether that
means finishing the first primary barrier or constructing a 30-foot wall something
needs to be done.