Severe weather in southern Arizona appears to have damaged parts of the multibillion-dollar border wall erected by ex-President Donald Trump’s administration.
Severe weather in southern Arizona appears to have damaged parts of the multibillion-dollar border wall erected by ex-President Donald Trump’s administration.
The Tucson Sentinel reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents had confirmed “historic’’ flooding at the nation’s border with Mexico was to blame for the destruction.
That appeared to include several wide-open metal gates separated from their hinges and, in some cases, stuck in mud and debris.
Monsoons have sent thousands of gallons of floodwater into the area in recent days, threatening to break a record for rainfall that had stood since 1964.
Gizmodo reported that the seemingly heavy damage to the multibillion-dollar border wall took place at the San Bernardino Ranch, which rested between Douglas, Arizona, and the San Bernardino Wildlife Refuge.
During his campaign for the White House, Mr. Trump vowed to build a mighty wall, which would be paid for by Mexico.
“Nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively,’’ he said in June 2015.
Funding for the parts of the border wall Mr. Trump built before leaving office in January came from federal monies that included billions of dollars from the Department of Defence.
Kate Scott of the Madrean Archipelago Wildlife Centre described the damaged gates as being in a state of “disrepair” alongside a photo she posted on Twitter.
Jose Manuel Perez Cantu, director of the nonprofit Cuenca de Los Ojos, told Gizmodo that he knew of six gates at a single location destroyed by flooding.