U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to “build a wall” along the United States’ southern border with Mexico, but a spokesperson for the union representing American border guards thinks any visions of a giant, concrete structure may be a bit misguided.
“I think we’ve learned a lot of lessons from the fencing that we put up over the past 20 years,” Shawn Moran, vice-president of the National Border Patrol Council, told The West Block’s Vassy Kapelos.
READ MORE: Canada’s immigration website crashed on election night – but not just because of Trump
“I think we’ll see some double and triple-layer fence in some locations, and you’ll see supplemental fences where we have maybe just a primary fence now.
“It’s a tool we definitely need. It’s not a solution to everything, but it is one tool.”
The bidding process for contracts to build the wall begins this week in the United States, and according to Moran, it can’t happen soon enough.
The border patrol council has been an outspoken supporter of Trump’s plans to shore up border security and curb illegal immigration.
WATCH: Mexican politician climbs border fence to show Trump’s wall is ‘absurd’
“I’ve been a border patrol agent for almost 20 years, and I don’t remember a time where we’ve actually enforced the immigration laws of the United States,” Moran said, adding that both the Democrats and Republicans have talked tough on illegal immigration, but the problem persists.
Border agents intercept about 40 per cent of the people who try to cross into the United States from the south illegally, he estimated, but the other 60 per cent are never caught.
“We have doubled the number of border patrol agents twice since I’ve been in the border patrol, it’s had very little effect because we haven’t been allowed to do the job,” Moran told Kapelos.
“Now we have the political will.”
Border guards will intercept people walking to Canada
On the northern border, Moran said it’s a different story. He cited the excellent relations with the Canada Border Services Agency and the RCMP, calling it “a totally different dynamic.”
WATCH: Cuba’s Raul Castro blasts Trump’s wall as ‘expression of irrationality’
Still, the union wants to send 1,500 additional agents to staff the Canadian border, doubling the agents currently assigned there to ensure “more operational control.”
READ MORE: Are asylum seekers ‘queue jumping’ and other key questions
As for asylum seekers who are attempting to enter into Canada illegally on foot, Moran said U.S. agents will try to intercept them if they attempt to cross away from a checkpoint.
“It is a concern. Obviously as civilized nations we want to facilitate legal immigration through the ports of entry,” he said.
“If they do not have status to be in the United States legally, they will be arrested prior to them attempting to get into Canada … but if they are allowed to be here legally, they do have rights.”
Comments