Trump asked the Pentagon to explore trench on the border, Pentagon advised against it

Source: CNN

(CNN)The Pentagon pushed back against President Donald Trump's request to construct a trench along the US-Mexico border to stop illegal border crossings, according to a letter obtained by CNN. "USACE determined that construction of an unreinforced 30' x 30' trench, while a deterrent, would take three to five times longer and cost approximately 20 percent more to emplace than other available options," Mark Esper wrote to Trump, referring to the US Army Corps of Engineers. Esper at the time was serving as the Secretary of the Army. The memo was signed June 26, 2018, and sent to the President, according to a defense official.

Trump made the border wall the cornerstone of his 2016 presidential campaign, pledging to construct additional barriers along the southern border. The request mentioned in Esper's letter appears to have been one of many ideas floated by the President amid frustrations over an influx of migrants at the southern border. Trump previously raised wanting to paint the wall black and include French-style doors, according to The Washington Post and confirmed by CNN.

The New York Times also previously reported that Trump considered a "water-filled trench, stocked with snakes or alligators, prompting aides to seek a cost estimate." Trump denied the report on Twitter, saying "I may be tough on Border Security, but not that tough. The press has gone Crazy. Fake News!"

Esper's letter to the President doesn't make mention of snakes or alligators, but it reveals how the Pentagon advised against the President's request to fortify the border with a trench. "Only about 100 miles of the total border has geological conditions favorable to excavating an unreinforced 30' x 30' trench," Esper, who Trump later tapped to be his Secretary of Defense, wrote. "While addressing these challenges can be overcome in one way of another, the overall cost of constructing the trench -- even with the most modern of machinery -- is extremely expensive, and the time it would take to complete it would likely take much longer than other options the USACE developed."

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/14/politics/esper-border-trench-estimate/index.html

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