Border security is national security. We must have the ability to know who
and what is coming across our borders.
We must have the ability to construct an effective border wall system
that strengthens CBP’s ability to protect our country's national
and economic security.
The border between the United States and Mexico
stretches nearly 2000 miles from the Pacific Ocean
to the Gulf of Mexico. Over the past 30 years,
various barriers have been built using all kinds of materials.
But what if there were no border wall?
What would our border look like?
Early in my career, I was in San Diego
where tens of thousands of people would cross nightly and vehicles
would cross intermittently with thousands of pounds of narcotics.
So the border wall system
dramatically changed the border environment,
increased officer safety, drove down crime.
And it's making it harder and harder to get narcotics into this country.
Effective border wall infrastructure slows that down and really stops
the vast majority of it lets us use our resources more effectively.
And it's just making sure that we know
who enters the country through our front door,
which is the ports of entry.
>> The border wall has made a tremendous difference
in every sector on our southwest border
and in every location
it has succeeded in helping the men
and women of the United States Border Patrol secure our homeland.
These new and upgraded barriers have immediate positive impacts.
Let's look at just one example.
Near Calexico, California, a two-mile stretch of the border
was a consistent source of illegal activity
because the crowds of pedestrian and vehicle traffic
from a nearby shopping center allowed illegal border crossers
to disappear quickly into the United States.
Since the construction of new steel bollard border wall
and the installation of cameras and sensors.
CBP has been better able to deter individuals
from crossing illegally into the U.S. there
and the wall's design enhances agents'safety
by letting them maintain a complete line of sight through the barrier.
Building a border wall system is imperative to having a safe,
secure border.
Put the border wall is no longer just a matter of national security.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought home the simple fact
that it is now also a matter of public health.
>> Just imagine if we faced this same kind of challenge
in the middle of a pandemic like COVID-19
without effective border barriers.
And yet, despite the pandemic's disruption
to so many aspects of our lives, CBP never stopped building.
>> And we're making progress faster than ever.
Today, we're averaging about seven miles per week.
>> It's common sense when it comes to protecting our national security,
borders matter. When it comes to protecting the health and safety
of every American citizen. borders matter.
And with every new mile of wall system being built,
the ability of the incredible men and women of CBP
as our frontline defenders of our nation's borders
to keep us all safe is stronger than ever.