President Trump claimed in a tweet today that a “powerful wall” has been completed in southern New Mexico, with “many more miles now under construction.”
The tweet included a time-lapse video showing workers erecting a steel-slat barrier. Trump says it was finished late last month, “47 days ahead of schedule!”
But it turns out the construction in the video has nothing to do with Trump’s campaign for a border wall.
The barrier is in the town of Santa Teresa NM, reports KOB-TV in Albuquerque, replacing “fencing that was used to prevent vehicles from crossing.” Santa Teresa is northwest of El Paso TX and has an official Port of Entry from Mexico, although it is not directly on the border.
KOB cites the Washington Examiner as saying funds for the project were in the Congressional budget in May 2017 — just four months after Trump took office. The Examiner says the barrier is from 18 to 30 feet tall.
New Mexico has recently seen a surge in Central American migrants, most from Guatemala, seeking to cross into the United States. But they have largely attempted entry at Antelope Wells NM, on the border in the state’s far western “bootheel,” more than 200 miles from Santa Teresa.
