The wall

Legion Troll

A fine upstanding poster

“I will build a great wall—and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me—and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.” — Donald Trump


Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act requires any construction project “permitted, funded, or licensed by any federal agency” to be reviewed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for endangered species present in the area.

To the best of our knowledge, Donald Trump has filed no such request for his proposed border wall. So we did that for him.

Assuming Trump's wall will run along the entire 1,989-mile long land border the U.S. shares with Mexico and that the construction project will impact a total width of 1,000 feet (access roads, support structures, staging areas, etc), the USFWS estimates that the project will “potentially impact” 111 endangered species, 108 species of migratory bird, four wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries, and an unknown number of protected wetlands.

You can find all of those species and areas listed in the official report.


http://www.outsideonline.com/2075761/these-are-111-endangered-species-threatened-trumps-border-wall
 
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Ich bin ein mexikanischer

That wall, incidentally, is built around Jesus Christ's Bethlehem birthplace by Trump's neoZionist pals. You'll find that his claim to know about wall-building is rooted in that.
 
The United States spends $3.7 billion per year to keep around 21,000 Border Patrol agents in the field, and another $3.2 billion on 23,000 inspectors at ports of entry along the border, a third of which has already been walled or fenced off.

It is perhaps the most patrolled and highly defended border anywhere in the world, at least for two closely connected countries at peace with one another.

Judging from the border, you’d never know Mexico was a friendly nation linked to the United States by a treaty agreement worth over half a trillion dollars in annual trade.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/08/18/donald-trump-immigration-border/
 
Trump will have to ban pole-vaulting poles.
Maximum terms for anybody attempting to conceal one.
 
A physical barrier between Mexico and the United States has been tried before.

During President George W. Bush's second term, Congress authorized $1.2 billion to build several hundred miles of double-layer fencing, but the government faced myriad obstacles. Private landowners objected to buyout offers. There were environmental concerns and lawsuits.

Some 650 miles of border fencing now sits on the border, including roughly 15-foot-tall steel fencing in many urban areas that is designed to stop or slow border crossers on foot and vehicle barriers, which are shorter steel posts filled with cement and planted in the ground.

Just getting that built was a challenge, and a new, taller wall like the one Trump wants would almost certainly face as much, if not more, opposition.




http://www.businessinsider.com/can-donald-trumps-build-wall-mexico-2016-3
 
A 1970 boundary treaty governs structures along the Rio Grande and Colorado River at the Mexican border.

It requires that structures cannot disrupt the flow of the rivers, which flow across Texas and Arizona and define the US-Mexico border.

Trump has said his wall will not need to run the full 2,100-mile length of the border, but even excluding those portions blocked by geographic features, there are serious issues.



http://www.businessinsider.com/can-donald-trumps-build-wall-mexico-2016-3
 
In some places, treaty obligations and river flood zones would require the wall be built well into the United States, which would be awkward.

In addition to creating a sort of no-man's land between the wall and the actual border, one government or the other would have to buy large amounts of private property as well as land owned by at least one Indian tribe whose territory straddles the border in southern Arizona.

In areas where the border is defined on dry land across New Mexico, most of Arizona and California, structures have to be built so the wall doesn't obstruct natural run-off routes or otherwise induce flooding. Building in those areas can be complicated and costly.



http://www.businessinsider.com/can-donald-trumps-build-wall-mexico-2016-3
 
There are the conservation issues. Groups such as the Sierra Club sued over parts of the existing partial fence. And, federal regulations could prevent or at least significantly delay or increase costs of construction in certain areas.

A total of 18 federally protected species may be found along certain sections of the California border, and at least 39 federally endangered, threatened, or candidate species live along the Arizona border, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Presuming Trump can overcome all of these bumps, he must also contend with the cost and the diplomatic consequences.



http://www.businessinsider.com/can-donald-trumps-build-wall-mexico-2016-3
 
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