The top border chiefs that for years have pressed administration’s for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico line are stepping up their criticism of foes who claim that the 100 miles constructed during the Trump administration are not new.
“There continues to be, at times, some folks who take issue with the claim as to whether or not this stuff is new. I find that, as a career law enforcement professional, frankly somewhat absurd. It is absolutely new, it is absolutely unique, and unlike anything we’ve put out before,” said Robert E. Perez, deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan added, “I think someone who still wants to play that game hasn’t been there and stood next to a brand new wall system, 30-foot tall, with access roads, lighting, and integrated technology.”
Critics of the president’s push for a full border wall have tried to undermine his efforts by describing the wall as a “replacement” of current barriers. Inside border agencies, they call it “the ‘R’ word.”
Much of the 100 miles built or nearly built are in areas where there was a poor wall system. But Morgan and Perez said what has been built isn’t a replacement of old World War II systems but a new 30-foot system with roads, lights, and high technology.
Morgan explained it this way to a small gathering of reporters, “Hey, you know, you’ve got a 20-year-old dilapidated car. You go out on a weekend and you get a new car. Somebody calls and says, ‘Hey, what did you do this weekend?’ You don’t say that you bought a replacement car. You say you bought a new car. Why, because it is in every single fathomable way. And that’s where we are at.”
Morgan said border officials have been asking for wall systems for years.
“The United States Border Patrol, and CBP as a whole, has said that this is a critical tool for us to be able to perform our duty and safeguard this country,” said Morgan.
“This president listened, he listened to the experts and actually asked them, ‘What do you need?” And we said, ‘Mr. President, we need the wall,’” said Morgan, who added, “He listens and that’s what he delivered.”
He also cheered the new construction so far, noting that it covers a distance equal to that between Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Virginia.
“That’s a tremendous goal that we reached, 100 miles,” he said.
