Concertina wire stolen from border fence and used for home security in Tijuana

[HARDCORE]

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...318-story.html

Concertina wire stolen from border fence and used for home security in Tijuana, authorities say


Wendy FryContact Reporter March 18, 2019

The concertina wire installed under the Trump administration to reinforce the U.S.-Mexico border is now being stolen and used to protect Tijuana residences as the city grapples with a surge in crime, officials confirmed Monday.

Thieves are stealing and selling the same concertina wire installed in November along the border by the Department of Homeland Security, and 15 to 20 arrests have already been made, city officials said.

Contractors were seen Monday at a border fence on the U.S. side of the Colonia Libertad neighborhood of Tijuana, replacing some of the stolen wire.

Some homes in the same area had identical wire installed in front of their homes, as an added layer of protection to their property lines and fences, but residents declined to comment about how they obtained the material.

“I don’t actually live here in this house, so I have no idea how that wire got here,” said one woman who declined to give her name in Colonia Libertad at a house where the razor wire was visible in front.

Tijuana was the most violent city in the world in 2018, according a new report by the Citizens' Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice. Homicides rose to historic levels in recent years while local Tijuana gangs battled over a lucrative domestic drug market, averaging about seven killings per day, the report said.

The concertina wire — or razor wire — was installed to address fears that large crowds of Central American migrants would force their way into the country, according to a Nov. 19 statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Contractors directed by the National Guard trimmed the border fence along the southwestern end of the United States with 18-foot thickets of the military-grade concertina wire.

Thieves are now stealing that same material at night and using it in their homes or selling the razor wire to Tijuana residents who are using it as an extra layer of home security around their residences, the city’s secretary of public safety confirmed Monday.

“We have detected that the barbed wire that was installed in the border area is no longer there. We know about the stealing of the concertina (wire) from United States authorities who have asked us for help through the liaison staff,” said Marco Antonio Sotomayor Amezcua, the secretary of public safety in Tijuana.

Sotomayor said the material is distinctive and differs from anything sold in stores in Tijuana. Razor wire is stronger, sharper and more likely to cause injury than regular barbed wire, which can be found in any home improvement store, he said.

Director Reynaldo González Mora, who leads Tijuana’s border liaison unit, said police arrested about 15 to 20 people in the last week for allegedly stealing the material from the border fence.

“The people arrested were mainly Mexican (citizens), and most were people who have been deported from the United States, and people who have problems with drug addiction and live mostly on the street,” González said.

Trump touted the additional layer of border security in a tweet saying, in part, “no climbers anymore under our Administration!”

A CBP official said the concertina wire is made of galvanized steel.

Wire isn’t the only construction material used in the neighborhood. Abandoned tires are a common sight, typically refashioned and used for everything from retaining walls to the foundations of people’s homes.

[Boats]

Military projects at JBLM, Kitsap and Whidbey Island could be delayed to help fund border wall
By: Seattle Times Staff - March 19, 2019 at 10:36 am
RE: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...S_seattle-news

Among the projects that appear to be at risk are an $89 million pier and maintenance facility at the Navy Base Kitsap at Bangor, a $23 million maintenance installation at the Army's Yakima Training Center and a $26.2 million refueling facility for helicopters at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

The Pentagon has released a list of projects, including some in Washington state, that could be delayed to free up funding to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.

The Washington projects that appear at risk of being put on hold include an $89 million pier and maintenance facility at the Navy Base Kitsap at Bangor and a $23 million maintenance installation at the Army’s Yakima Training Center.

Other Washington projects included on the 21-page “funding pool” list include a $26.2 million refueling facility for helicopters at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM); a $14 million support facility at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane; a $19.45 million Navy fleet support complex on Whidbey Island; and a $66 million project to improve a correctional facility at JBLM.

But these projects, which are scheduled to have contracts awarded before Sept. 30, appear to be safe from having their funds diverted to pay for the construction of the border wall sought by President Trump. The Defense Department, in a statement released Monday along with the list, said that projects awarded before that date won’t have the their money reallocated to the wall construction.

It is still unclear just what projects the Defense Department will try to bankroll.

The Department of Homeland Security will provide a list of “border barrier projects,” and the U.S. Northern Command will determine which of them would support the use of armed forces, according to the statement released Monday. Then, the Defense Department will determine what wall-building projects it might take on, and at what level of funding.

Many congressional representatives have expressed concern about projects on the list. They include Rep. Denny Heck, D-Olympia, who voted against the president’s emergency declaration that is being used to gain funding for the wall. That legislation passed Congress but was then vetoed by Trump.

Heck, in a written statement, said Trump “is diverting funds from real operational priorities in order to build an unneeded wall.”

If the Defense Department’s proposed budget for the fiscal year is enacted on time and as requested, then it is possible that no military projects will be delayed to fund wall construction, according to the statement.

But the opposition to Trump’s use of an emergency declaration to fund wall building has triggered a thicket of lawsuits, which could thwart plans for building new barriers along the border. Some wall projects also may face legal action from landowners along the border.