GETTING THE FACTS
the Department of Homeland Security to install at least two layers of reinforced fencing along some stretches of the border. That was amended later, however, through the Consolidated Appropriations
Act of 2008, which got rid of the double-layer requirement.
So how is that different from the wall that candidate Trump promised to build?
Trump promised an “impenetrable” physical wall. But since the 2016 election now says that parts of the wall could actually be “see- through” and fencing could be constructed in some areas instead of a wall.
Trump was initially vague on the details about his wall and during the campaign gave varying cost figures, from $8 We are now working with PolitiFact, a fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others who speak up in American politics. We will check into what they say and tell you if it’s true or not.
billion to $12 billion. Trump has continued to say that Mexico would pay for it — but did not offer concrete details on how or a clear timeframe — but he also sought money from Congress.
The Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 5 that his administration outlined to a group of senators plans requesting nearly $18 bil- lion over 10 years to build new and replacement bar- riers along more than 700 miles of the nearly 2,000mile long border.
The administration’s document called for a barrier, referred to as a “wall system,” but officials did not specify where it would be constructed.
Renacci’s congressional spokeswoman Kelsey Knight said that there isn’t any significant difference between the barrier that Schumer supported in 2006 and Trump’s wall.
“Both are meant to deter physical entry from one side of the border to the other,” she said.
Trump criticized the 2006 fence as too modest during the 2016 campaign.
“Now we got lucky because it was such a little wall, it was such a nothing wall,
no, they couldn’t get their environmental — probably a snake was in the way or a toad,” Trump said. (Actually, the project didn’t face environmental hurdles; we rated that part of the claim Mostly False.)
It’s also worth noting that the political context surrounding the 2006 vote was different from Schumer’s statements about Trump’s wall in the past year.
Democrats normally in favor of looser immigration laws saw the Secure Fence Act of 2006 as the lesser of two evils, according to a Boston Globe report that detailed the legislative process. Around that same time, the House passed legislation that would make any undocumented immigrant a felon.
Our ruling
Renacci said that in 2005 or 2006, Schumer “voted for the wall.”
Schumer voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which authorized buildinga fence along about 700 miles of the border between the United States and Mexico.
But that fence is not as substantial as Trump’s proposed wall. Trump himself called the 2006 fence a “nothing wall.”
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