Work begins on new border wall in Santa Teresa

Work is beginning along a 20-mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border in southern New Mexico to replace existing vehicle barriers with a new bollard wall.

“The wall that we’re replacing is going to be durable. it’s going to be here for a long time. It’s going to be hard to get over, harder to get through, harder to get underneath,” said Aaron Hull, El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials gathered Monday to mark the groundbreaking of the $73 million project at Santa Teresa near New Mexico’s state line with Texas.

“The project is underway. This is the beginning in this sector of the president’s border wall,” Hull said.

Officers in the area are responsible for a sprawling desert territory that spans a portion of West Texas and all of New Mexico. They say the area remains an active route for illegal crossings and drug trafficking and that the existing barriers aren’t meeting their needs.

During the last fiscal year, officials say more than 25,000 immigrants suspected of trying to enter the country illegally and seized more than 34,000 pounds of marijuana and 140 pounds of cocaine.

This comes as President Donald Trump announced he would be deploying national guard troops to the U.S./Mexico border.

“We have a great relationship with them. They have capabilities they can provide for us that can make it much easier to secure the border, things like air support, repairing and creating infrastructure to assist us,” Hull said. “We have conducted initial outreach with both New Mexico national guard and the Texas national guard.”

Construction on the wall is expected to take about 390 days.