Why am I the arbiter of that?

Posted on: January 24, 2019 at 14:50:30 CT

The U.S.-Mexico border is 1,954 miles long, reaching from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east.2 On the U.S. side, the land surrounding the border is home to approximately 7.3 million people, according to the 2010 Census. Crossing California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, the border spans nearly every type of terrain, including cities, farmlands, deserts, mountains, valleys, reservoirs, and even a National Park. The majority of the border—1,254 miles or 63%—is marked by the Rio Grande River, which flows up to 500 feet wide and 60 feet deep at certain points.3

Roughly 38% of the U.S.-Mexico border is currently fenced—most of which is concentrated in California, Arizona, and New Mexico where the border is on land. In total, the U.S. government has spent $7 billion dollars building roughly 700 miles of fencing along the border since 1990. The majority of that fencing—670 miles—has been built since 2006, when Congress passed the Secure Fence Act, the same legislation President Trump relies on in his executive order to claim authority to build his wall.11 The 670 miles of fencing built in the last decade already satisfy the requirements outlined in the 2006 immigration reform bill, which called for 370 miles of fencing and 300 miles of vehicle barriers.12