Trump unfazed by reports smugglers cut border wall
President: Steel bollard fencing ‘very easily fixed’
President Donald Trump on Saturday downplayed reports that smugglers were cutting through the new tall sections of wall that he has said are fundamental to security along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump told reporters he had not heard the reports when asked about them as he departed the White House on Saturday, but he appeared unsurprised by the news.
“We have a very powerful wall,” he said. “But no matter how powerful, you can cut through anything, in all fairness.”
The president did not seem concerned about the possibility because “we have a lot of people watching” and “cutting is one thing, but it’s easily fixed.”
“One of the reasons we did it the way we did it, it’s very easily fixed. You put the chunk back in,” he said, referring to the steel bollard fencing that the administration decided on after considering several other designs.
Earlier Saturday, The Washington Post reported that Mexican smugglers were repeatedly sawing through the bollards – long, vertical posts made of steel with a concrete center – with cordless saws that can be purchased at most hardware stores. The paper also reported the work could be done in a matter of minutes using diamond grit and tungsten carbide blades.
The Post reported that it was unclear how many times such breaches have occurred.
One senior administration official told the Post that it was only “a few instances” and that the new fencing had “significantly increased security and deterrence.”
Citing unnamed U.S. agents, as well as current and former administration officials, the Post reported that smugglers were using power tools and makeshift
“No matter how powerful, you can cut through anything, in all fairness.” President Donald Trump Quoted in Politico
ladders to get past the border barrier, which Trump said in September was “virtually impenetrable” and “cannot be climbed.”
“If you think you’re going to cut it with a blowtorch, that doesn’t work because you hit concrete. And then if you think you’re going to go through the concrete, that doesn’t work because we have very powerful rebar inside,” he said while visiting a section of newly built border fencing in San Diego. He called it the “Rolls-Royce version” of a border barrier.
Customs and Border Protection spokesman Matthew Leas later confirmed to CBS News that such breaches were taking place but he said the Post had exaggerated the extent of the problem. “It’s happening but not to the point where it’s an issue,” Leas told CBS.
In January, NBC News reported that agents were able to saw through a steel slat prototype for Trump’s border wall with common tools.
When asked about that report at the time, Trump said the design belonged to the Obama administration, though it was built as part of his prototype tests.
“There is nothing that can’t be penetrated, but you fix it,” he said.
A Customs and Border Protection report obtained by San Diego public broadcasting station KPBS through a Freedom of Information Act request showed that all eight of the prototypes built for Trump could be breached in one way or another.
CBP spokesman Ralph DeSio told KPBS that they “were not and cannot be designed to be indestructible.” He said the idea was to “impede or deny efforts to scale, breach, or dig under such a barrier, giving agents time to respond.”