The Independent View: Biden Plans Fixing Border Wall With Repairs And Closing Gaps

Where Trump’s Border Wall left Deep Scars and Open Gaps, Biden plans Repair Job. The clock ran out before they built it, leaving behind a mutilated landscape and a boneyard of steel fence panels stacked by the hundreds. At more than $41 million per mile, Guadalupe Canyon was the most expensive segment of a $15 billion Megaproject that ranked among the Costliest in U.S. History. Today the abandoned Border Wall site is a Liability for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), with loose rocks and boulders sliding down the mountainsides.

Sage Goodwin, whose family’s nearby Ranch house rattled daily through Nine months of Blasting in 2020, wants the Government to repair the Damage to their Land. He filed suit against the Trump Administration and is now waiting for CBP to indicate how far it’s willing to go to put the Mountain back together and Prevent a Flood that could wash out the road to his home. “We want to be reasonable and realistic,” Goodwin said. “We want to roll back the destruction and help CBP come up with a model that balances ecological values, ranching values and border security.”

In recent weeks, CBP Officials have been soliciting input from Ranchers, Environmental Advocates, Landowners, and others, as the Biden Administration prepares to spend hundreds of millions for Border Wall Remediation. The money, which will include unused Construction Funds, will go to: clean up Worksites, Stabilize areas facing Erosion, and Remedy some of the worst Environmental Damage, while also allowing CBP to close Gaps in the Wall.

CBP Officials say the efforts will be initially focused on Southern Arizona’s Tucson sector, including Remote and Ecologically Fragile areas where the most Destructive Blasting occurred, such as Guadalupe Canyon, as well as the Dry Creek Beds and Channels that surge during summer “monsoon” thunderstorms. Segments of the Wall were Damaged in Flooding last year, and Erosion along the base of the structure has left its Foundation Exposed at multiple locations across Southern Arizona.

Paul Enriquez, the Deputy Director of the CBP Infrastructure Division responsible for the Border Wall, said the Biden Administration’s Remediation effort will Prioritize “safety, erosion and flood control,” to ensure Roads and Hillsides don’t Wash Out and the Barrier itself “does not fail and cause some sort of life safety issue for the public, local residents or agents who patrol in that area.”

At Abandoned Construction sites and Staging areas used to store Materials and Heavy Equipment, CBP is preparing to Clean Up and Replant Vegetation, but Officials say Locations where Blasting occurred can’t be easily put back together. “We’ll be working with federal land managers to identify an appropriate restoration method,” Enriquez said in an Interview. “And, in some instances where we had temporary roads installed, we’ll be remediating those areas, as well.”

Trump's Administration went for the lowest-hanging fruit, building along Public Land in New Mexico and Arizona, including National Forests and Wildlife Preserves, that was already under Federal Control. Some of those Remote Locations had few Crossings to begin with.

Trump's Wall performance so far is mixed. It has funneled Illegal Entries and Smuggling Activity toward Gaps and Crossing Points that remain Open. But determined Smugglers scale it with Cheap makeshift Ladders or Saw through it with Common Demolition Tools available at any Hardware store. In Texas, the Wall doesn’t stop Migrants from Crossing the Rio Grande, that is Low now, and Sructures can’t be built on the River, the Natural Border with Mexico.

Immigration Arrests by CBP along the Mexico Border are Higher than ever. Republican support for thePproject appears to have further Intensified during Biden’s Presidency, and Lawmakers have been pounding him for Halting the Project. Rep. John Katko (R-NY, 24th District), the highest-ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, said the Biden Administration’s Border Wall Remediation plan and its approach to Border Security, generally, are “insufficient.” “Frontline homeland security personnel, especially the Border Patrol, are stretched far too thin and lack the resources needed to address the overwhelming and historic flow of migrants crossing the southwest border,” Katko said in a statement. “Every dollar appropriated by Congress for border barrier funding should be used for that very purpose.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said about half of the $5 billion the Trump Administration obtained for the Wall through Congress and Nonmilitary sources was Awarded to Contractors, and the Department is still Calculating how much of the Mmoney can be Recovered. New Contracts for Biden’s Remediation Projects will be awarded in April, DHS said, with a Second round of Awards planned for late summer.

Enriquez, of CBP, says the Wall remains a valuable Asset. “The barrier provides impedance and denial, and it’s one of the tools that our Border Patrol agents use in their mission to secure the border,” Enriquez said. “The administration has indicated that that’s not their policy at this time, and we respect that. And so what other methods can we use to help secure those areas?” CBP said it continues to move forward on an Environmental Assessment and Public Comment solicitation for 86 additional Miles of Barriers in the Rio Grande Valley Approved under Trump. But Agency Officials say they do Not have the Biden Administration’s Approval to proceed with that Construction.

The Border Wall cuts through Remote areas of Arizona and New Mexico that had relatively Few Crossings and were Not considered a Priority for CBP. Guadalupe Mountain and the Peloncillo Mountains are a critical Wildlife Corridor between the Rocky Mountains and Mexico's Northern Sierra Madre.

Gaps are visible in the Border Wall East of Sasabe, Ariz., where Contractors racing to Build, as quickly as possible, did Not Complete segments that needed Custom Panels. One span of the Barrier East of Sasabe, Ariz., has Two dozen Gaps in the Wall and other Segments with Misshapen, Temporary Panels welded to the Structure like Patches.

Myles Traphagen, a Conservation Biologist who has Mapped and Documented the Impact of Border Wall construction using Motion-Activated Wildlife Cameras, wants the Biden Administration to leave the Gaps Open to provide a minimal degree of Safe Passage for Large Animals. CBP says its Remediation will add more Wildlife Openings in the Barrier, but they’re too Small for species like Wolves, Jaguar, Bighorn Sheep, Ocelot, or Sonoran Pronghorn to Cross. Some say it’s only a Veneer of Environmental Compliance. “The majority of the remediation work they’re planning is occurring to support existing border wall infrastructure, not for ecological restoration,” Traphagen said.