The Trump administration is asking companies to come up with ideas to make it more difficult for would-be infiltrators to saw through the president’s $15billion border wall along the frontier with Mexico.
US Customs and Border Protection put out a notice seeking input from federal contractors who have until June 12 to propose new measures that would prevent unauthorized migrants from scaling or penetrating the wall.
The new measures could include sensors and cameras that would warn authorities of attempts to scale the border, according to The Washington Post.
The federal agency is also looking at possibly using ‘advanced paint technology that would enhance the ability of thermal sensors to recognize wall jumpers and improve detection.’
People on the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border walk past a section of the border wall in Tijuana on March 23
The CBP denies that the notices are a tacit acknowledgment by the Trump administration that the barriers – which were initially touted as impenetrable by the president – and others are vulnerable to breaches.
‘We have an adaptive adversary; regardless of materials, nothing is impenetrable if given unlimited time and tools,’ the federal agency told The Washington Post.
‘Walls provide the US Border Patrol (USBP) the ability to slow and stop potential crossings.
‘That means building walls will deter some people from attempting to cross, while slowing the efforts of those who still try.’
Last year, news reports showed video and images of people climbing over a new section of Trump’s border wall with a rope ladder.
California photojournalist, J. Omar Ornelas posted a video last fall showing people easily climb over President Trump’s border wall using a rope ladder
A stress test conducted by Homeland Security also found that simple hardware tools were capable of cutting through sections of the wall.
Earlier this year, strong wind gusts pushed over a small section of newly constructed fence separating the Mexican town of Mexicali with Calexico, California.
These instances have prompted CBP to rethink its original steel bollard design, which was selected from several proposed prototypes in 2017.
The 30ft-tall steel bollards are topped with flat metal anti-climb panels. These designs are being installed by private contractors at several locations along the border.
‘This is the most sophisticated border wall system we have ever built, but we will never disregard innovative and creative ideas that could continue to enhance border barriers,’ CBP said.
During the 2016 campaign, Trump promised to construct a barrier along the country’s southern border with Mexico.
But the administration has only been able to construct a fraction of the promised 500 miles of barriers that it hoped would be completed by 2021, according to The Washington Post.
Last year, the Department of Homeland Security found that readily available home improvement tools like saws could cut through the steel bollard border wall that President Trump wants to build
So far, nearly all of the new fencing built by the Trump administration – some 110 miles – has been ‘replacement’ barriers in which smaller, older fencing has been torn down to make way for newer ones.
The administration has set a goal to complete 450 miles of new or converted barrier by the end of this year.
Progress has been slow due to the legal questions that are complicated by the fact large tracts of land along the US-Mexico frontier is privately owned.
The government has pledged to aggressively use eminent domain to take ownership of the land, but this, too, would have to be adjudicated in the courts – a process which could take years.
As Trump tries to win re-election, he will seek to tout parts of the completed barrier as a success.
Next week, the president is due to attend a ceremony in Yuma, Arizona, to mark the completion of the barrier’s 200th mile, officials told the Post.
Earlier this year, strong wind gusts pushed over a small section of newly constructed fence separating the Mexican town of Mexicali with Calexico, California
CBP has not publicly revealed the number of instances in which people have tried to breach the border.
The Post is reporting that there were 18 breaches in the San Diego region in a one-month period last fall.
The fencing around the San Diego area is considered among the most formidable barriers around.
Smugglers have managed to saw through the steel bollards using readily available home improvement tools.
‘Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recognizes that industry, other agencies, and other private entities may have interesting, innovative, and useful ideas that could be implemented to enhance and or improve mission essential operational deterrent capabilities related to the anti-climb/anti-cut features of the border wall and persistent impedance,’ the agency said in its notice to contractors.