Smugglers helping migrants scale Trump’s border wall ‘using $5 ladders’
Category: News & Politics
Via: tessylo • 4 years ago • 32 commentsBy: Samuel Lovett, The Independent
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
U.S.
Smugglers helping migrants scale Trump’s border wall ‘using $5 ladders’
US Border Patrol has seen a rise in camouflage “hook-and-ladders” within the far south-west region of Texas since May last year, according to The El Paso Times .
El Paso ’s urban stretch of border is said to be littered with the ladders, which are engineered out of rebar and match the rust brown colours of the wall.
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“Somebody is making money off those ladders,” agent Joe Romero told the newspaper. “The agents pulled it off the wall and cut it up so it can’t be used again.”
The redbar ladders began appearing in large numbers once construction of a replacement wall in El Paso was finished last May. According to Border Patrol, illegal crossings have increased ever since.
“We’re starting to see a lot of evading activity,” said Agent Ramiro Cordero. “We’re starting to see the criminal organisations working hand-to-hand on either side to avoid detection. More and more we are seeing ‘failure to yields’ — they are utilising ladders to go over the fence and diversionary tactics.”
Border Patrol apprehensions of single adults — those most likely to use the ladder method — have nearly doubled in the El Paso sector.
From October 2019 through January 2020, Border Patrol apprehended 10,030 adults, compared with 5,150 in the same period a year ago.
The ladders appear to be made by hand from two poles of 3/8-inch rebar and four thinner poles, fitted with steps and bent over at the end in a ‘U’ shape to hook on the top of the wall.
The El Paso Times reports smugglers could be sourcing the rebar from a local hardware store in Ciudad Juarez, a Mexican city just south of El Paso, where six metres of the material costs roughly $5.30 (£4).
To date, almost 100 miles of border have been built under the Trump administration, mostly to replace and improve existing barriers.
Mr Trump’s campaign promised that Mexico would pay for the wall, but thus far the almost $10bn (£7.7bn) budget has come from taxpayer money.
The president has proposed spending an additional $2bn for border wall construction.
A total 450 miles of the barrier is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
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To date, almost 100 miles of border have been built under the Trump administration, mostly to replace and improve existing barriers.
Mr Trump’s campaign promised that Mexico would pay for the wall, but thus far the almost $10bn (£7.7bn) budget has come from taxpayer money.
The president has proposed spending an additional $2bn for border wall construction.
A total 450 miles of the barrier is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
I THOUGHT IT WAS ALL NEW WALL tRump WAS HAVING BUILT?
Plus illegal crossings have increased since tRump has been having these sections replaced?
I thought he said they have dropped?
Well, then you weren't listening during his campaign when he said that much of the existing barrier needed to be upgraded.
That's harder to say. If they get through uncaptured, how would we know? What has increased, is the number of captures or "apprehensions." That might be because the wall is making them easier to catch. It also probably has something to do with the caravans that have been organized to approach the border. You know, the ones people like to say aren't for real?
Who needs a ladder? Why not just wait for the next breeze?
what a ridiculous WASTE of OUR MONEY
WTF Trumpp ?
Can't you just envision the East Coast wall and what it do to the Jersey beaches, lol
They've already got the Jersey Walls and look what they've done for the interstates
Those stupid sound barriers started in CA and spread to D.C., then PA & NJ.
Hate them.
Lived uphill from a stretch in CA that didn't alleviate any noise that I could tell, lol.
You lived uphill. That's why it didn't work for you. The walls are for the people who live right next to the freeway at that level, and they work very well for them.
$billions of wasted taxpayer dollars versus $5.00 ladder.....oh and remember Mexico is going to pay for it....s/
You don't even need a ladder. A long plank to walk up and a rope to lower down to the other side would do the trick.
Why make it so scary and difficult? Just use one of these things.
People claim that border walls and barriers are a waste of taxpayer money. Uncontrolled illegal immigration has a cost, too. The cost of handling those who have entered illegally is higher than those who haven't entered.
Using technology to monitor the border won't be cheaper. Once people have entered the United States the costs are the same. And allowing all those who illegally cross the border to remain in the United States increases cost to the taxpayer. Uncontrolled borders isn't free. So what is the alternative?
Physical protection of the border (either by barriers or technology) is only a small portion of the cost of illegal immigration. The annual budget for customs, border protection, and immigration has been between $20 to $30 billion over the last decade. And that does not include legal and social assistance costs for those who have entered illegally. We are spending more on illegal immigration than we spend on NASA. What we spend on illegal immigration is almost as much as we spent on the National Institute of Health. Is illegal immigration as important to the country as NASA and NIH?
Yes, people will find ways to evade physical border protection. That doesn't make that activity legal. Should we just give up because people can climb over a wall with a homemade ladder? How much are we willing to spend on illegal immigration? Is $30 billion spent each year too much or too little?
Clearly the wall is a waste of money so why not take that money and spend it on additional personnel to patrol the border?
Physical border protection is a one-time cost. Additional personnel is a recurring annual cost. While additional personnel may be a viable alternative, that doesn't preclude making choices and setting priorities about how to spend taxpayer money.
Do we want to spend more money on illegal immigration? Is illegal immigration a higher public priority than other programs? Those questions are not trivial.
Actually a lot of undocumented people pay taxes.
A vast majority DO.
Then undocumented people are paying taxes that are used for physical border protection and services for illegal immigration. Are those taxes paid by undocumented people sufficient to cover the public costs associated with illegal immigration?
Does illegal immigration pay for itself? Isn't that the same argument that Reagan used for tax cuts? Does the Laffer curve work for illegal immigration?
Then undocumented immigrants are paying for about half of the budget for border protection and services associated with illegal immigration. The numbers suggest the Laffer curve doesn't work any better for illegal immigration than it does for tax cuts. Illegal immigration is not paying for itself; that's not sustainable.
The old supply-side arguments that increased tax revenue is somehow 'free money' hasn't proved to be sustainable in the past. And highlighting 'free money' doesn't alter the need to make choices and set priorities for spending that 'free money'. A shortfall is still a shortfall.
The numbers also show that undocumented immigrants are providing sufficient income tax revenue to pay for a border wall. So what's the complaint? It's 'free money', after all.
Moving the goal posts I see, as usual.
What is the goal post? The article is stating that people are climbing over the border wall with homemade ladders which implies the border wall is ineffective and a waste of taxpayer money.
But the border wall is only a portion of taxpayer money spent on border protection and services associated with illegal immigration. Yes, we don't have to spend money on a border wall, that's true. How will that address the costs associated with illegal border crossings? Are we supposed to save pennies to spend more dollars? Is that the goal post?
As has been shown with facts, undocumented immigrants are providing sufficient tax revenue to pay for constructing border walls and barriers. What's the complaint?
"Moving the goal posts" is her Metaphor of the Day. I'm guessing there's a tear-away 365-day calendar involved.
More people patrolling the border would be more effective than the useless 'wall'
So, do we now have you on record as endorsing spending money to hire more Border Patrol agents? Sounds like a great idea!
I so rarely hear people on the Left advocating for that kind of thing. All I seem to hear these days is how cruel or racist it is to enforce our borders.
You make up stuff as you go along. I never said such things nor have most on 'the left'
No? Among Democratic presidential hopefuls, Buttigieg, Sanders, Steyer, Warren, and Yang are on record saying they want to decriminalize illegal border crossings. Sanders says we spend too much on border enforcement and he wants to pause all deportations. He wants to abolish ICE. Several of the other candidates want to restructure it in some way? Why? Because is ICE is mean.
Currently "families" - or people who claim they are anyway - are detained at the border pending processing. 8 candidates are on record as saying those people should be released. Why? Because it's cruel.
Several members of Congress are also campaigning on the idea of abolishing ICE. Why? Because it's not "humane."
Nancy Pelosi said a border wall is immoral . I mean, it's not like we didn't have some wall before Trump came along. Suddenly, it's immoral?
So, no, I'm not making it up. The argument from the Left isn't mainly that the wall is ineffective. It's that it's morally wrong.
Moving the goal posts and changing the discussion, as usual.
If by "moving the goalposts" you mean "staying on topic" then we agree. Nice to have you on board.
Excellent! Looks like the wall is making it easier to catch these people.