The Border Wall is Back

[Nevilledog]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/03/trump-border-wall-construction/686403/

No paywall link
https://archive.li/ZhT7j

At coronado national memorial in arizona, the demolition crews blowing up national-park land tend to announce explosions at least a day in advance, as a warning for hikers to stay away. The crews have been working their way up the western slope of the park for the past couple of months, right along the international boundary with Mexico. President Trump’s border wall needs a smooth, straight path, and there are mountains in the way.

Trump didn’t build along this stretch of the border during his first term, but his crews are now working at a furious pace. They have already completed about five miles of 30-foot-tall barrier, painted jet black at the president’s insistence because he thought it looked more intimidating and would be hotter to the touch.

I watched them on a recent afternoon from an overlook, at a safe distance from the blast. To the west was the San Rafael Valley, a rolling yellow grassland that is one of the last wild open spaces along the U.S.-Mexico border. Ringed by mountains, it has served as a setting for John Wayne Westerns and episodes of Little House on the Prairie. I saw no power lines, paved roads, or other signs of human presence, aside from the new camp where Trump’s workers were sleeping in trailers and crushing rocks to make concrete for the wall’s base. They had about 20 more miles to go to finish the whole valley, one of the last places in southeast Arizona that hasn’t been walled off.

Trump spent about $11 billion to build 450 miles of border barrier in his first term, one of the most expensive federal-infrastructure projects in U.S. history. He faced a lot of pushback too. The federal government shut down in December 2018 for a then-record 35 days when Democrats refused to give Trump $5 billion for border-wall funding. But last summer, Trump got nearly 10 times that amount for the wall—$46.5 billion—when Republicans pushed through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

*snip*

[LisaL]

1. Trump voters must be so proud.

Money well spent.

[Initech]

2. So how is this making America great, actually?

[regnaD kciN]

3. Less dark-skinned people here, obviously...

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Mini-Trump is building his own mini-wall in Chile

I have no idea if there's really anything about its border with Peru, but I'm pretty sure they can long-jump:

Chile's president begins building border barrier less than week into term

José Antonio Kast appeared at the site along Chile's northern border with Peru on Monday to inspect the trench and chat to construction workers, hailing it as the first step towards meeting his campaign promise to stem illegal immigration.

Only a small portion of the planned barrier has so far been cut into the arid Atacama desert - a ditch a few feet wide and deep.

It is one of several policies of Kast's that echo pledges by US President Donald Trump - who has made constructing a wall at the Mexican border a common refrain at rallies and a crucial part of his own immigration policy.
...
"For all of Chile, this is a milestone," he said while at the site, near the border town of Arica.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg1227k00eo