News

Trump shared pictures of his border wall, but people noticed a massive problem with it

Picture:
Picture:
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Donald Trump tweeted about how well the construction of his border wall is going.

The US President wrote that he had a “great afternoon” on the “start of the Southern Border WALL!"

He tweeted four images of a construction site that appears to be the beginnings of a big ol’ fence.

As eagle-eyed observers quickly noted, that’s not the beginnings of the Southern Wall.

In fact, it’s an image of repairs being make to a pre-existing part of a fence in California, work for which began in 2009.

The project was to replace a 2.25-mile section in the California-Mexico border wall, according to a statement from US Customs and Border Protection.

The El Centro Sector wall replacement is one of Border Patrol’s highest priority projects. Wall in this area was built in the 1990s out of recycled scraps of metal and old landing mat. Although the existing wall has proven effective at deterring unlawful cross border activity, smuggling organizations damaged and breached this outdated version of a border wall several hundred times during the last two years, resulting in costly repairs.

People are not impressed.

Others are calling 'fake news' on the tweet.

President Trump appears to be having some trouble securing the necessary funding to build the wall. Reports from the Washington Post claim the president is trying to persuade the US Defence Department to pay for its construction, but senior officials on Capitol Hill later told the newspaper it was unlikely that the military would pay for the concrete barrier.

Last week he signed a $1.6bn (£1.1bn) budget bill for border security – just a fraction of the $25bn (£17.8bn) he once wanted to fully fund the construction.

One of President Trump’s key campaign promises was the building a concrete wall alongside the Mexican/US border. He said he would make the Mexican government pay for it. The Mexican government have repeatedly said they will not pay for such a wall, and a report from the US Department of Homeland Security in February 2017 revealed American taxpayers will foot a large portion of the bill, at $21.6bn (£17.3bn).

indy100 has contacted The White House for comment.

More: This picnic at the US-Mexico border shows how Trump's wall will never divide humanity

More: Cards Against Humanity is expertly trolling Donald Trump and people are loving it

The Conversation (0)
x