Customs and Border Protection Working on Upgrading Border Wall in San Diego

Article audio sponsored by The John Birch Society

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) posted a press release on February 18 announcing that — in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — the agency was beginning construction on the San Diego Secondary Wall Project, with the first panels to be in place that day.

CBP awarded a $101 million contract to construct up to 14 miles of secondary wall along the Mexican border in California last December to SLSCO Ltd. of Galveston, Texas.

The secondary wall project includes the replacement of 14 miles of existing secondary barrier with a 30-foot-tall steel bollard wall that is directly north of the San Diego primary fence replacement project that is currently under construction with FY 2017 funding.

CBP’s release notes that these two important barriers, in combination with a patrol road and technology, create an enforcement zone for the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) as part of a border-wall system.

The release noted that such barriers, along with other deterrents such as technology, roads, and personnel, “have significantly reduced illegal entry in the San Diego Sector.”

Such border fortifications are being done to implement President Trump’s Executive Order 13767, also known as Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements.

Fox News reported on February 20 that the state of California and prominent environmental groups have sued the federal government in an unsuccessful attempt to stop construction of border-wall projects in the state. The suit claimed that the administration overreached when it waived environmental reviews to speed up construction. Last week, however, a federal appeals court upheld a judge’s decision siding with the administration.

The report observed that when Trump took office, there were already barriers in place covering about one-third of the border. The administration has awarded $1 billion in contracts to cover 97 miles of border fortifications, most of it to replace existing barriers.

We reported on February 6 that CBP had announced that the federal government will soon begin construction of more border barriers in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Since House Democrats in the new Congress have refused to approve a bill that included the $5.7 billion President Trump wanted for his border wall, the new project consisting of 33 miles of new barriers in the Rio Grande Valley will be funded with $600 million that Congress approved last March for that purpose.

The Fox TV affiliate in San Diego reported on February 22 that the Border Patrol there had provided them with a close-up look at how the border-wall construction in that area was progressing. Crews in Otay Mesa (a community in the southern section of San Diego, just north of the U.S.-Mexico border) are working on a new, secondary border wall that will replace 12.5 miles of existing fencing that went up in the late 1990s that no longer effectively keeps out illegal border crossers and smugglers.