Trump's border wall: Claims and realities

World
Europe

02:40

Donald Trump wants a border wall with Mexico to fight crime, drugs and lawlessness.

A video recently posted by the U.S. president on Twitter claims that the situation on the border is dangerous and only a wall can save America from the criminal migrants. But is the situation really that serious?

Here are some facts:

United States President Donald J. Trump speaks about border security in the White House briefing room in Washington, DC, January 3, 2019. /VCG Photo

The continental border between the U.S. and Mexico stretches for nearly 2,000 miles. The land border reaches across four states: Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. Out of it, around 1,000 kilometers are already fenced. Trump said the U.S. needs another 1,000 kilometers of new barriers.

But data by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection tell an entirely different story. Apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border have significantly decreased from over 1.6 million in 2000 to just above 300,000 in 2017.

Even as the amount of border patrol forces have almost doubled.

But the U.S. President doesn't seem to believe any of these figures: "Our current immigration system fails Americans, chain migration is a total disaster which threatens our security and our economy and provides a gateway for terrorism."

View of the US - Mexico border fence in Playas de Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on January 2, 2018. /VCG Photo

Trump said the immigration system isn't working well for Americans, but the deaths of two young migrant children in December last year showed that it's the immigrants who ultimately pay the price.

Before that, the Trump administration's policies split thousands of children from their parents.

But the President is still not convinced.

He is focused on finalizing the wall prototype and its design which currently looks like a row of metal spikes, even calling it pretty effective and even beautiful.

He said, "We need a physical border wall. We're going to have a wall. Remember that. We're going to have a wall."

Building a wall was one of the biggest promises of Trump's 2016 U.S. election campaign. Since then, on a number of occasions, the President has asserted that he's walking the wall talk.

In June 2018, he claimed that 1.6 billion U.S. dollars sanctioned for border security were for the wall.

Mattress used by people to land safely after jumping over the fence of the US/Mexico border, in Tecate, California, on December 29, 2018. /VCG Photo

But it wasn't.

The money was allocated for replacing existing fencing.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Trump said: "Mexico is already paying for the Wall through the new USMCA Trade Deal". But, in fact, the new deal isn't even in effect. It's awaiting ratification from legislative bodies in each country.