Floods blow gates off Trump’s border wall
The monsoon broke the metal panels off their hinges
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump's ill-fated border wall between the US and Mexico is already failing at its sole task - being a wall.
Flooding caused by monsoons in Arizona has broken the floodgates on portions of the wall, separating metal panels from their hinges and leaving huge openings in the barrier.
Gizmodo reports that the damaged section of the wall is located near San Bernardino Ranch, just east of Douglas and just northeast of the Mexican town of Agua Prieta.
While most of the southwest is desperate for water, portions of southern Arizona have experienced record-setting rainfalls. Rainfall in nearby Douglas has doubled the average monsoon season rainfall.
The rains have also brought flooding.
Gizmodo reports that six gates were knocked off their hinges, and others were damaged by the floodwaters.
The crumbling wall comes as little surprise to those familiar with the region's climate and geology.
Because Mr Trump's wall was a passion project and a foundational promise of his campaign, the former president rushed to start its construction.
"Nobody builds walls better than me, believe me," Mr Trump said in 2015. "And I'll build them very inexpensively."
The former president may have exaggerated his wall building expertise by just a bit. Had Mr Trump not sidelined environmental laws to commence construction, he likely would have learned that Arizona's monsoon season would uproot his wall.
Myles Traphagen of the Wildlands Network said that he believed that the companies that who worked on the wall were more concerned with finish the project than they were its long-term viability. He said that he could understand other projects - like dams - having a net benefit to society even if they did damage to the environment, but did not feel the same about the border wall.
According to Mr Traphagen, the "border wall is a complete suck of money. We don't benefit by any of that."
Since Mr Trump left office, Joe Biden has put a halt on building the wall. However, the already built section - 452 miles of wall - has resulted in extensive damaged to the borderlands ecosystem.
Photos taken by Wildlands Network's trail cameras reportedly shoe javelinas and jaguars stuck pacing along the wall because they cannot find a way around.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments