Border Agency Turns To Private Contractor To Install Concertina Wire On Border

Published: Thursday, February 21, 2019 - 6:58pm
Updated: Friday, February 22, 2019 - 2:40pm

Since late last year, a key aspect of federal border security has been not only border fences but also the installation of concertina wire on that fencing. It’s a contentious issue, one that Arizona cities are fighting back against. But now there’s quietly been an expansion of the concertina wire project along the border. 

For months, Customs and Border Protection has relied on the U.S. military to install coils of concertina wire on the U.S.-Mexico border fence that separates most border towns from their neighbors in Mexico. But in one stretch of the border separating Tijuana, Mexico, from the U.S., the military turned CBP down, saying it didn’t have environmental clearance for the area or clearance from the International Water and Boundary Commission.

The border agency said approaching caravans of asylum seekers had a "propensity for violence" and used that rush through the hire of a construction company to build out berms topped with three rows of the dangerous wire, a federal contract award, shows.

CBP and Homeland Security Department officials did not respond to multiple requests for further information. The contract doesn’t say whether the same company would then have to remove the concertina wire later.

Fronteras