Tagged: border wall

September 19th, 2017 Related News Comments Off on Israel company to build US-Mexico border wall prototype

Israel company to build US-Mexico border wall prototype

(YNET NEWS) — An Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) subsidiary is on the shortlist to construct the new border wall between the United States and Mexico, an enormous project and long-touted campaign promise by President Donald Trump.

Elta North America, the aforementioned IAI subsidiary, was announced Saturday as one of only four companies to construct a prototype for a “smart border” wall, after winning a US Customs tender. More than 200 companies from around the world presented bids for the tender.

Each one of the quartet of companies will receive funding of $300,000-$500,000 to finance the production of said prototype in the coming fall.

Trump wishes to create a wall running the entire 3,200 kilometers separating the two countries, in order to prevent passage of migrants from Mexico into the US, who he says take jobs out of American hands.

After Trump cited Israel’s wall built along its southern border with Egypt as a success story in stopping illegal migrants from entering the country, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced his support for the US border wall project. Netanyahu’s reply got him into some hot water with both Mexico and members of his own coalition, who pleaded with him to stay out of the controversial issue.

The project is estimated to become one of the world’s largest security infrastructure undertakings, with its cost to run anywhere from 15 to 25 billion dollars.

The American government has so far earmarked 3 billion dollars for the project in its 2018 budget, of which a billion will go to the smart border systems included in the tender, which are supposed to include advanced radars for both person and vehicle identification. Radars of this type are already manufactured by Elta and sold to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, as well as to other international clients.

Elta North America works out of Maryland and manufactures radar systems and components for branches of the American military, as well as radar components that the Israeli Ministry of Defense purchases using funding it receives from the US for Israel’s security. The security package does stipulate, however, that Israel must purchase equipment intended to fortify its security from that has been manufactured in the US—a fact that allows Israel to purchase Elta’s products, despite the company being a subsidiary of the Israel Aerospace Industries.

Elta employs 50 people and is expected to double its manpower in the coming years. It also operates in cyber and has opened a training and instruction center for cyber professionals working for both governmental and private organizations.

Elta’s Israeli headquarters are located in Ashdod, where it manufactures radar systems for Arrow missiles, the Iron Dome system, espionage and fighter jets.

The company is also in the running to supply additional long-range radars to South Korea, which has already purchased the “Green Pine” radar used in the Arrow missiles from Elta. South Korea is interested in purchasing radar systems to beef up its deterrent array in light of rising tensions in the Korean peninsula.

Elta isn’t the first Israeli company to be considered a participant in Trump’s ambitious project. Late last year, Magal Security Systems—which builds high-tech fences and walls—was also considered a shoo-in for the project.

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September 14th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Trump administration fast-tracks replacement of California border wall section

Trump administration fast-tracks replacement of California border wall section

(USA TODAY) — President Donald Trump’s administration is waiving a list of laws and regulations to speed up the construction of a two-mile segment of border wall in Calexico, replacing a stretch of wall that was built in the 1990s.

The Department of Homeland Security issued the waiver of federal laws on Tuesday, saying it’s an “area of high illegal entry” and that replacing the outdated barrier is a high priority.

The department said in a notice published in the Federal Register that the existing 14-foot fencing will be replaced with an 18-to-25-foot barrier “that employs a more operationally effective design.”

The Trump administration is waiving 28 federal laws, ranging from the Clean Air Act to the National Environmental Policy Act, to expedite the project.

That decision prompted criticism from the Sierra Club, which said rolling back safeguards that protect public health and the environment is wrong.

“People in Calexico now are being denied the protections afforded to them by really important laws such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act,” said Dan Millis, a campaign organizer for the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter in Tucson, Ariz. “Somehow it’s OK for the people in Calexico to be excluded from these protections?”

Millis said it’s irresponsible for the Trump administration to “ignore this nation’s most effective laws to deliver an extremist agenda.”

The administration has similarly waived 37 laws and regulations to build prototypes of Trump’s planned border wall and replace existing infrastructure along a 15-mile stretch of the border near San Diego.

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August 23rd, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Trump threatens government shutdown over border wall funding

Trump threatens government shutdown over border wall funding

(BLOOMBERG) — President Donald Trump threatened Tuesday to bring the U.S. government to the brink of a shutdown if needed to pressure Congress into funding the border wall that was a centerpiece of his 2016 campaign.

Delivering a warning to Democratic lawmakers who have objected to his plans to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico frontier, Trump called them “obstructionists” and said that it was time for the U.S. to crack down on illegal immigration.

“If we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall,” Trump told thousands of supporters gathered in Phoenix for a campaign-style rally. “One way or the other, we’re going to get that wall.”

Trump’s threats about shutting down the government and ending the North American Free Trade Agreement caused U.S. stock-index futures to pare gains and drop as much as 0.3 percent. Dow futures were down 0.2 percent as were E-Mini Nasdaq 100 futures.

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July 8th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Trump, Peña Nieto discuss Mexican guest-worker proposal

Trump, Peña Nieto discuss Mexican guest-worker proposal

(FOX BUSINESS) — By Robbie Whelan

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and U.S. President Donald Trump, at their first one-on-one meeting since Mr. Trump took office, agreed Friday to explore new ways of allowing Mexican workers to temporarily enter the U.S. to help the agriculture industry.

The proposal came at the end of a half-hour meeting between the two heads of state at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, where both sides also discussed the coming renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Mexico’s government said it hoped to finish by the end of this year.

“We’re negotiating Nafta and some other things with Mexico and we’ll see how it all turns out, but I think that we’ve made very good progress,” Mr. Trump said after the meeting, according to Reuters.

Despite the upbeat message, the meeting could have gotten off on the wrong foot when a reporter asked Mr. Trump if he still wanted Mexico to pay for the proposed border wall. Mr. Trump answered, “Absolutely,” according to a video posted online by ABC News.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, who was seated next to Mr. Peña Nieto during the exchange, said he didn’t hear what Mr. Trump said, but added that the subject of the wall wasn’t brought up during the meeting.

Mexican officials have insisted they would walk out of any meeting between both sides if the U.S. team brought up Mexico paying for the wall.

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February 14th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Mexican smuggler says Trump’s wall won’t stop him

Mexican smuggler says Trump’s wall won’t stop him

(SEEKER) — He grew up poor in Nogales, Mexico, just across the border from Arizona. His dad died when he was a teen, his mother worked as a cook. He couldn’t afford the things he wanted. There weren’t many jobs for a guy like Pancho, as he calls himself.

But there was a steady gig that paid $2,000 a week — smuggling marijuana across the U.S.-Mexico border — and Pancho took it. He’s 29 now, a father of five, and he says he works long hours to support his family, “so that they won’t be in need.” It’s a risky life, but he’s done it for 12 years, and he doesn’t think anything President Donald Trump does about a border wall will stop the illegal narcotics trade.

“No matter what you do here, we can still get through,” said Pancho, while sitting in the dim light of an abandoned tenement just a few minutes south of the border. It was cold and damp, and he sat hunched in a chair in a musty room with a dirty old mattress and newspapers scattered across the floor. The fence along the border used to be shorter, he recalled. It’s higher now, but that’s no impediment.

Smugglers always seem to find a way around such obstacles — over, under or around. US law enforcement agents know this.

“Drugs will come in through every direction,” said Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada in Nogales, Ariz., located just across the border. “They’ll throw the drugs over the fence. They’ll push them through.” That or they will tunnel beneath or send people deep into the mountains, where the fence is less obtrusive.

“These cartels, they’re a 24/7 business, thinking of ways to bring drugs across,” Estrada continued. “They’ll do it through the ports of entry, the Mariposa commercial port. You know, they’ll get a ton, two tons of marijuana come in on some of those trailers.”

The drug smuggling is unrelenting.

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February 10th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Trump border ‘wall’ could cost $21.6 billion, take 3.5 years to build

Trump border ‘wall’ could cost $21.6 billion, take 3.5 years to build

(NBC NEWS) — President Donald Trump’s “wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border would be a series of fences and walls that would cost as much as $21.6 billion, and take more than three years to construct, based on a U.S. Department of Homeland Security internal report seen by Reuters on Thursday.

The report’s estimated price-tag is much higher than a $12-billion figure cited by Trump in his campaign and estimates as high as $15 billion from Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The report is expected to be presented to Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly in coming days, although the administration will not necessarily take actions it recommends.

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February 10th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Homeland Security head tours border as wall plan takes shape

Homeland Security head tours border as wall plan takes shape

(ABC NEWS) — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly will wrap up a two-day tour of the nation’s border with Mexico on Friday as plans take shape to build a wall along the 2,000-mile divide between the two countries.

Kelly has told lawmakers that he would like to see wall construction well underway within two years, but he held open the possibility that it wouldn’t extend to areas where there are natural physical barriers.

Fences already cover about 700 miles of the border.

Kelly was scheduled to tour one of the most fortified stretches of the border separating San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. The two cities in the border’s largest metropolitan area are separated by a double fence, much of it topped with razor wire.

San Diego is often cited as an example of how walls can slow illegal crossings, but critics say the structures only forced people to more dangerous areas where many have died in extreme heat.

The San Diego-Tijuana area of about 5 million people has the nation’s busiest border crossing, where tens of thousands of motorists and pedestrians enter the U.S. every day. It’s also one of the busiest crossings for cargo.

On Thursday, Kelly toured southern Arizona — the busiest corridor for illegal crossings from 1998 to 2013.

Southern Texas is now the most preferred route as large numbers of Central American families and children make their way to the U.S.

San Diego was the busiest route for illegal crossings until the late 1990s, when a surge of agents helped push crossers toward the remote mountains and deserts in Arizona.

Kelly was visiting the border in Arizona and California for the first time since he became secretary last month. Last week he toured the border in southern Texas.

Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, rose to run the U.S. Southern Command, responsible for U.S. military activities in 31 countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean.

Kelly told a House panel on Tuesday that Trump’s immigration and travel ban made “an awful lot of sense” but probably should have been delayed at least long enough to brief Congress about it.

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January 26th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on White House press secretary says border wall will be funded by 20 percent import tax on Mexican goods

White House press secretary says border wall will be funded by 20 percent import tax on Mexican goods

(BREAKING 911) — Trump spokesman Sean Spicer added a stunning new detail about the proposed wall project later Thursday, saying that Trump intended to pay for it by imposing a 20-percent tax on all imports from Mexico.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto had been scheduled to meet with Trump on Tuesday to discuss immigration, trade and drug-war cooperation. He called off the visit after Trump tweeted that it would be “better to cancel the upcoming meeting” if Mexico was unwilling to pay for the wall.

Trump’s moves have rekindled old resentments in Mexico, a country that during its history has often felt bullied and threatened by its wealthier, more powerful neighbor. The legacy of heavy-handed U.S. behavior – which includes invasions and the seizure of significant Mexican lands — has mostly been played down by a generation of Mexican leaders who have pursued pragmatic policies and mutual economic interests with both Republican and Democratic U.S. administrations.

Both Peña Nieto and Spicer said that their countries were interested in maintaining positive relations. “We will keep the lines of communication open,” Spicer told reporters in Washington on Thursday morning, adding that the White House would “look for a date to schedule something in the future.” The Mexican president tweeted that his government was willing to work with the United States “to reach agreements that benefit both nations.”

But Mexicans expressed shock and dismay as Trump moved to turn his campaign promises into reality.

Mexicans view a wall across the 2,000-mile border as a symbolic affront, part of a package of Trump policies that could cause the country serious economic pain. They include a crackdown on illegal immigrants, who send billions of dollars home, and renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. The treaty has allowed trade between the neighbors to mushroom. Every day, $1.4 billion in goods ccross the U.S.-Mexico border, and millions of jobs are linked to trade on both sides. Mexico is the second largest customer for American-made products in the world, and 80 percent of Mexican exports – automobiles, flat screen TVs, avocados – are sold to the United States.

“When we are talking about building a wall, about deporting migrants, about eliminating sanctuary cities [for migrants], about threatening to end a free trade agreement, or to take away factories, we are really talking about causing human suffering,” Margarita Zavala, a possible candidate for the presidency in 2018 and the wife of former president Felipe Calderon, said in an interview. “And after today, without a doubt, it is very difficult to negotiate from behind a wall.”

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January 25th, 2017 Related News Comments Off on Border Patrol union: Trump’s border plan ‘gives us the tools we need’

Border Patrol union: Trump’s border plan ‘gives us the tools we need’

(BREITBART) — by Ildefonso Ortiz

As President Donald J. Trump prepares to kick off his new border security plan, various news outlets have begun to criticize the effort by focusing on the border wall. However, members from the union representing the men and women from the U.S. Border Patrol stated that the proposal comes from listening to agents instead of politicians.

Various outlets have continued to question the notion of building a border wall and have focused on the perceived challenges of such an enterprise. Other outlets have criticized the effectiveness of the measure claiming that it does not address the current immigration crisis. The various news organizations have failed to mention the complete control that Mexican drug cartels have over human smuggling, narcotics trafficking, and other illicit activities along both sides of the border.

The executive orders that President Trump will be signing provides border security agents with the tools that they have been denied for too long, said Hector Garza, a U.S. Border Patrol agent and the President for the Local 2455 of the National Border Patrol Council. As part of the union’s leadership, Garza is able to speak about issues affecting the men and women that he represents.

Despite the many misconceptions by pundits and individuals who have not been to the border, a wall with the addition of new manpower, surveillance technology and other equipment will be an effective tool in slowing down illegal immigration and drug smuggling, Garza said.

“We know we won’t have a wall along the 2,000 miles of border,” he said. “What we will have is a wall where it is needed. That barrier with proper manpower, resources, technology and other tools will be effective. But most important, for the first time we have a president that wants to secure the border.”

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December 9th, 2016 Breaking News Comments Off on Senator: The wall will be built, ‘not that expensive, shovel ready, works’

Senator: The wall will be built, ‘not that expensive, shovel ready, works’

(WASHINGTON EXAMINER) — By Paul Bedard

Quick action in Congress to fund construction of President-elect Trump’s border wall is expected next year and it shouldn’t be too expensive complete, according to a key lawmaker who chairs the committee that oversees immigration.

What’s more, said Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, the project should be considered “shovel ready,” and part of the proposed $1 trillion infrastructure project eyed by the incoming administration.

“In terms of federal spending, it’s not going to be that expensive and if President Trump when he becomes president is talking about an infrastructure program, well this would be a shovel ready project,” said Johnson, citing 2006 legislation signed by former President Bush and called the Secure Fence Act to fund completion of the wall.

Appearing before Johnson’s Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last week, the chief of the U.S. Border Patrol said the fence should be completed. “Does it work? Yes,” said Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan.

Johnson told Secrets that there are immigration fees that can be instituted or increased to raise money from Mexicans and others seeking entry to the United States. He suggested that it might cost “a few billion.”

He added that a wall would not only increase security but alleviate the staffing woes in the Border Patrol.

“Fencing actually works. So we need better fencing. We need more better fencing. And that could relieve pressure. Let’s face it, part of the problem that Customs and Border Protection is dealing with is the fact that they are having a hard time hiring enough people. So the nice thing about fencing, particularly if you have double fencing with a road in between the fencing, it requires fewer agents. And so you kind of kill two birds with one stone there. You provide better security and you are able to provide this better security with fewer agents. That’s a good thing,” the newly reelected senator said.

And he said that a wall isn’t needed for all of the border, some of which is nearly impossible to get to because of rough terrain and some covered with technology.

“From my standpoint, the wall maybe viewed somewhat as a metaphor. I don’t think we need 1,700 miles of it, but we need far better fencing than we’ve got,” said the senator.

Asked about potential protests in Congress to construction, Johnson said he believes the House and Senate should respect the election outcome.

“Hopefully they heard the wish of the American public that we want to secure our border,” said Johnson.

“If we’re ever going to fix our immigration system I think the American public is going to demand that they have confidence in the fact that we are committed to securing our border, which they very justifiably don’t have that confidence,” he said.

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