Trump makes more bold claims during border wall visit - but experts see 'very little progress'

President's acting Border Patrol chief calls wall criticism a 'false political narrative' as experts scoff at White House claims

Donald Trump made more bold claims about his southern border wall during a visit to Arizona on Tuesday, calling it the "most powerful" barrier "in the world" – a contention that has been rebuked by experts.

"Our border's never been more secure. Never even been close," the president said during a briefing in Yuma with homeland security and local officials. "It's just about unclimbable."

Claiming the project has now reached its 200th mile of the kind of new wall structure he promised as a candidate in 2016 and that border crossings are the lowest in "many" years, Mr Trump called the barrier "the most powerful and comprehensive border structure in the world."

As the president again visited a section of the border barrier as homeland security analysts and fact-checkers continue to rebuke his claims.

Mr Trump told reporters earlier as he departed the White House that his administration has constructed over 200 miles of structure along the US-Mexico border since he took office. He used the word "wall," something Democrats and experts for years have said is misleading.

"People are not being able to cross the border," he said. "The wall is up because we have more than 200, we have about 212 miles up of wall," he said over the loud hum of Marine One. "So that's good."

That quote essentially provides a construction update from the foreman in chief.

"On the Southern border, as you know, the wall is going up, it's going up very rapidly. We're at 182 miles," Mr Trump said in a May speech.

Fact-checkers at PolitiFact, an independent organisation, examined Mr Trump's May claim and rated it "half true." That's because "what the administration has mostly done is replace old and outdated designs with newer and improved barriers."

"What the administration has mostly done is replace old and outdated designs with new and improved barriers," according to PolitiFact. "Of 187 miles, 172 miles have a border barrier that replaced dilapidated or outdated designs. The other 15 miles have a barrier for the first time."

Analysts at the Brookings Institution concluded Mr Trump has made "very little progress" on the coast-to-coast border barrier he promised as a candidate in 2016.

"So far, only 83 miles of barriers have been constructed, all of which replaced old fencing and old barriers," the Brookings analysts wrote in a December white paper. "The Trump administration has not been successful in getting Congress to appropriate the sums that Trump envisions the wall would require.

"In February 2019, Trump, unable to persuade Congress to appropriate the money he wanted for the wall, declared a national emergency and ordered the Department of Defence (DOD) to reprogram funds for constructing a wall," according to the Brookings paper. "According to [the Congressional Research Service], approximately $6.1bn DOD funds have been reprogrammed for border wall construction."

'False political narrative'

Even then, there has been little construction of new barrier, with the involved federal agencies continuing to largely replace old structures. Part of the reason for that is Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats have refused to approve spending legislation unless it included language requiring bollard fencing and other smaller barriers, rather than the concrete "wall" candidate Trump envisioned.

Asked on Air Force One why wall critics keep writing white papers like the one published by Brookings, Acting Customs and Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan suggested it's all political.

"That's just a false political narrative," he said. "From an operational, law enforcement perspective those are new miles of wall system that are going in the ground. All 220 [miles]."

But top Democrats like the party's presumptive 2020 presidential nominee, Joe Biden, say the president's wall talk is mostly just that.

"Once again, instead of doing the hard work needed to solve the public health and economic crises facing America, Donald Trump remains focused on his expensive, ineffective, and wasteful 'wall' on our southern border," the former vice president said in a statement.

"Make no mistake: this visit is a distraction. It's a distraction from Donald Trump's failed response to combat the spread of Covid-19. It's a distraction from his failure to get Americans -- including many in Arizona -- the testing we need. It's a distraction from his inability to offer a concrete, effective re-opening plan that's rooted in science and public health.