The debate over border control between the United States and Mexico has been running hot for years, but the concept of building a wall between the two countries has definitely come more to the forefront since Donald Trump began his campaign for the 2016 presidential election.
The ongoing conflict between Trump and Democrats over this issue has continued to this day. Recently, a dispute over his demand of $5.7 billion for 230 miles of wall to be added to the border this year led to a 35-day government shutdown.
Amidst the ongoing debate on whether a wall between the two countries would be an effective use of resources, surveillance footage showing dozens of migrants scaling one portion of the border fence has emerged. The US Customs and Border Protection agency released the video, showing people climbing over a section of the fence in Arizona on Monday, using a ladder provided by a smuggler.
The video shows them travelling over one-by-one, before scaling down the 18 feet drop using what appears to be a rope. At the end of the video, the camera zooms in to show what is presumably the smuggler, carrying the ladder back south of the border across their back.
The group, which supposedly amounted to 110 people, were later apprehended by Border Patrol agents. Jose Garibay, a Border Patrol spokesman, told the Arizona Republic that the video shows how "brazen" smugglers have become:
"They know that we're not gonna go into Mexico to apprehend them. So once he puts up that ladder, gets his commodity - in which he looks at these humans - in the United States, then he takes down his ladder, and as you saw in the video, just walks back to wherever he hid the ladder and continues on with his day."
This follows news from earlier this week in which 376 migrants were found walking along the border after using tunnels to bypass the fence. Many critics of the plans for the wall have pointed to these evasions of the fence as evidence that physical barriers do little to stop those who migrate illegally.
As one reporter pointed out, instances of those jumping the fence to make it to the US have dropped significantly over the years, with a 90% decrease in arrests since 2000. Many attribute this to the work of border patrol agents, with any physical barrier only giving them slightly more time to respond.
Other critics have suggested that the border wall would need to be monitored in real time by sensors, cameras, and patrols along every section of the 1954-mile stretch, otherwise blind spots could still be found and exploited.
On Friday afternoon, it was announced that a deal had been struck to re-open the government without any funding for the wall. While Trump failed to get funding for his proposed 230 additional miles of wall for 2019, the conversation is far from over yet.
The Senate is expected to come together and vote on the proposed measure on Friday.
