President Trump issued a statement Sunday claiming that a small section of border wall that has been privately funded and constructed was “only done to make me look bad”.
Trump responded to reports of the wall section going up along the Rio Grande Valley of southern Texas:
I disagreed with doing this very small (tiny) section of wall, in a tricky area, by a private group which raised money by ads. It was only done to make me look bad, and perhsps it now doesn’t even work. Should have been built like rest of Wall, 500 plus miles. https://t.co/L8RUPCAhqc
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2020
Reports indicate that the wall section was put up by a group calling itself We Build the Wall.
The group raised $25 million on the back of promises to reduce drug trafficking and illegal immigration.
It seems, however, that the wall section isn’t all that good, with reports of it already ‘eroding’ and having to undergo an engineering inspection.
The report linked above indicates that The International Boundary and Water Commission and the National Butterfly Center have brought lawsuits over the wall construction.
President Trump has claimed that 240 miles of new border wall has been constructed since he took office, however that is a far cry from his campaign promise to have built a complete border wall by the end of his first term.
We have now built 240 Miles of new Border Wall on our Southern Border. We will have over 450 Miles built by the end of the year. Have established some of the best Border Numbers ever. The Radical Left Democrats want Open Borders for anyone, including many criminals, to come in!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2020
In addition, critics have noted that most of what has gone up is just replacement barriers for old and outdated sections of border fencing that were already there before Trump took office.
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