Trump's Wall Begins to Crumble: What to Know About the Former US President's Signature Project

Monsoon rains caused the damage.

Monsoon rains and the flooding they caused have damaged sections of the dividing wall on the US-Mexico border, which was begun during the presidency of Donald Trump. 

Here is what you need to know about the project of the former US president. 

When construction of the wall began

Building a wall on the border with Mexico was one of Donald Trump's main campaign promises. He argued to his supporters that the structure would protect Americans from drug dealers and "bad guys". 

In January 2017, Trump ordered construction of the wall to begin, and by August his administration had selected four construction companies to build prototypes. The former president said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had persuaded him to build the barrier. 

Donald Trump
former US president

He always told me that the wall works, and asked me to take his word for it. They also had a situation where people were crossing the border in a flood. He said their wall stopped 99.9% of these people. 

Later, problems arose with financing the wall's construction. The 2019 budget allocated $1.3 billion for border security. Trump wanted Congress to additionally allocate $5.7 billion for construction. 

Republicans and Democrats failed to agree on a budget, which resulted in a "shutdown" of the US government, a situation in which the federal government is forced to partially or fully suspend the activities of ministries and agencies and send civil servants on unpaid leave. The "shutdown" lasted a record 35 days. 

On February 14, 2019, the US Senate approved a bill funding the federal government until September to avoid another suspension of its operations. However, the budget provided only $1.37 billion for wall construction. 

Donald Trump declared a national emergency in the US in order to direct about $8 billion toward building the wall. 

Why Trump wanted the wall and when the project was frozen

For the former US president, the wall on the border with Mexico had fundamental symbolic significance. He believed he was fighting "migrant caravans" that were allegedly preparing to storm the US border. Meanwhile, his own Government Accountability Office stated that the project could prove extremely expensive and pointless. 

Later it became known that the Biden administration would begin gradually admitting tens of thousands of people from Mexico who wish to seek asylum in the US. 

According to US government data, the number of migrants detained on the US-Mexico border in July exceeded 200,000 for the first time in 21 years. In early August, the Biden administration announced it would indefinitely extend the Trump-era pandemic policy that allows the US to quickly expel illegal migrants. Unaccompanied children and some families are exempt from the expulsions.

Where and why the "Trump wall" is crumbling

Entire sections of the wall on the US-Mexico border were damaged as a result of monsoon rains and flooding. 

A section of the wall between the city of Douglas in Arizona and the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge was damaged. Rivers overflowed their banks due to the flooding and destroyed at least six metal floodgates built into the wall in case water levels rose. 

Elsewhere in the same area, the floodgates were clogged with debris and sand. In summer, these floodgates are left open in case of rain and flooding.

Critics of the border wall believe that the open gates prove the wall is merely a symbol rather than an effective way to combat illegal migration.