Donald Trump’s administration is prepared to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on “quality assurance” after U.S. officials said that smugglers had used commercially available power tools going for $100 to slice through his replacement fencing along the southern border—and you can bet your ass that’ll be U.S. taxpayer money, just like the stolen funding he wants for his wall.
“The US Army Corps of Engineers, which is supervising the construction of the president’s long-promised border wall, will be awarding up to $300 million in contracts to monitor the quality of the wall’s construction along the southern border of the United States, according to a pre-solicitation released Nov. 5,” Quarts reported earlier this month. The tasks include, among other things, ‘analysis of construction contractor claims,’ identifying ‘potential construction issues,’ and “material testing.’”
Oh, there’s plenty of issues here alright, but it’s the fact that a medieval wall doesn’t solve shit when it comes to our broken and unfair immigration system, and that was made pretty clear when officials said that smugglers were cutting through the fencing with just slightly more difficultly than Trump cutting through a ketchup-covered, well-done steak. Breached sections were repaired, officials said, but were again being targeted because the people cutting through knew the areas could again give way.
So, up to $300 million to fix this damned thing, even though the administration claims it was forced to axe things like the successful Family Case Management Program—a detention alternative where 99% of families showed up to their court dates—because of fiscal concerns. In reality, “FCMP cost approximately $38 each day per family unit,” said the Women’s Refugee Commission. What a joke—and this $300 million is a joke we all have to pay for.