SANTA TERESA, New Mexico (Border Report) – Construction of more than 6 miles of so-called secondary border wall has begun in the desert of southern New Mexico.
Exclusive Border Report video taken this week shows excavators digging trenches just east of the Santa Teresa port of entry and cranes placing sections of new 30-foot-tall steel bollard fencing. This, in an area known until very recently for smuggling activity and rescues of migrants succumbing to extreme temperatures.
The new structure will be north of an older, 18-foot-tall steel mesh fence showing the scars of cartel attacks over the years. A patchwork of welded replacement squares can be seen covering square holes in the mesh left by smugglers.
These attacks brought about U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s 2021 Fence Cutter Initiative, which prioritizes the prosecution of individuals on the U.S. side of the border and enlists the help of the Mexican government to catch perpetrators on the Mexican side.
“Transnational Criminal Organizations operating in the El Paso Sector frequently use bolt cutters, grinders, and acetylene torches to breach the border barrier, as it represents a challenge to Transnational Criminal Organizations who are organizing and executing daily illegal smuggling attempts,” CBP said in a statement.
In the three months following the start of the program, CBP identified 198 breaches that cost the federal government between $60,000 and $80,000 to repair.
Mexican news outlets have published images of smugglers using a blowtorch to cut the steel mesh, and a Spanish television network produced a dynamic artist’s rendition of how the criminals send migrants through the 2-foot by 3-foot openings. Sometimes, the smugglers arrive in a pickup with welding equipment, cut the mesh and put it back in place and come back once they round up the migrants from safe houses in Juarez, published reports and local residents say.
The new 6-inch hollowed square bollards are much more difficult to pierce and are partially filled with concrete, a federal official told Border Report. “It tends to strip a (cartel’s) carbide saw,” the official said.
This portion of border wall construction is separate from the newly announced Anapra Wall Project. That one means to install 1.3 miles of steel bollards and anti-climb features in the back of Mount Cristo Rey in Sunland Park, N.M.
The public comment period for that project expired on July 3, though environmentalists and religious groups are still voicing opposition to its effects on wildlife and on Catholic Church faithful. The mountain has a shrine to Christ the King on its summit and hosts pilgrimages twice a year.
Construction is expected to continue through early 2027, federal officials said.