Trump's Wall and the Rio Grande

[Stardreamer]

Planners for Trump's wall in Texas have realized they have a serious problem. The treaties that define the border between Texas and Mexico place the border right smack dab in the middle of the Rio Grande River. Building the wall in the middle of the river would not be practical. If we build it on the US side of the river we will essentially be ceding one of the largest sources of water in Southern Texas to Mexico.

Some of Trump supporters are suggesting we seize the land on the Mexican side but that would be illegal. I wouldn't blame Mexico for blowing it up to protect their rights to water access which if you lived in that part of the country is no small thing.

 

[gsdx]

Nobody looked at a map before this?

 

[Sausy]

Nobody looked at a map before this?

We are talking about Donald Trump here. Since when does he think ANYTHING out like a rational person regarding possible outcomes?

 

[TX-Beau]

I don't know why anyone would think that Trump was actually planning to build anything.

All he was doing was tossing racist meat to his racist crowd. He never once considered how or why, because that was fucking irrelevant to his purpose.

And now he will learn that he isn't in Trump Tower anymore. I do hope though that no one drops a house on Ivanka, that would only end with Nancy melting Melania with a bucket of water.

 

[smokeshadow]

And, you have such topographic things like the Santa Elena Canyon

https://www.yahoo.com/news/zinke-bo...eographic-challenges-165953417--politics.html

 

[Kulindahr]

Building a wall is equivalent to treating a broken leg by strapping the patient motionless on a hard bed for three months: it may work, but it's outdated technology.

Far better than a wall would be a series of fortified border stations with drones for patrolling and response teams ready to go. Heck, the response teams wouldn't have much to do if they were smart about it....

Drone operator reports a group of people approaching the border apparently intending to cross. Response drone is launched, and delivers to the group enough water bottles for half the people with leaflets telling them they've been spotted, to turn around -- and with the clincher than if they do turn back, when they've gone one mile to the south they will get another water bottle per person and a candy/granola bar each. Also tell them their faces have been recorded and if they're seen again, the response will not be as friendly.

 

[heir-to-the-wind]

He didn't think about all the lawsuits for eminent domain / inverse condemnation.

''Build that wall'' is merely a mantra for the deplorable apparatchiks -- the trash element of American society -- who lionize a silly old man in a red baseball cap who duped them with empty promises.

 

[rareboy]

I don't know why anyone would think that Trump was actually planning to build anything.

All he was doing was tossing racist meat to his racist crowd. He never once considered how or why, because that was fucking irrelevant to his purpose.

And now he will learn that he isn't in Trump Tower anymore. I do hope though that no one drops a house on Ivanka, that would only end with Nancy melting Melania with a bucket of water.

I would concur.

He doesn't care if the whole thing gets built or not. He just wants one tall section that he can stand in front of in order to claim that he has single handedly solved the problem of illegal immigration.

 

[jockofstrap]

As usual trump shoots from the hip. His words sounded just right to the bigots of hate and intolerance.

 

[star-warrior]

When you write an agreement to divide along a river, they never thought anyone would be so idiotic as to suggest building a wall to separate the two countries. Along comes Trump, sticking it to them loser land treaty makers.

 

[rareboy]

I think the solution would then be for the US to cede the Rio Grande and build a wall along the shore on the US side.

 

[ballcaphair]

Making this thing real is confounding. I've worked concrete and I think the footing for this monster would be impossible. I never considered the river.

 

[Stardreamer]

I think the solution would then be for the US to cede the Rio Grande and build a wall along the shore on the US side.

You would have South Texas farmers and towns up in arms. Water rights are not something you simply give away in that part of the country.

 

[TX-Beau]

You would have South Texas farmers and towns up in arms. Water rights are not something you simply give away in that part of the country.

This point can't be made emphatically enough. There is no agribusiness in the valley without irrigation, on either side of the river. Mexico will not give up access to that water. That's like act of war kind of territory.

You'd have to build your wall right down the middle of the river from El Paso to the Gulf.

- - - Updated - - -

Making this thing real is confounding. I've worked concrete and I think the footing for this monster would be impossible. I never considered the river.

It's not so much the engineering problems with the Rio Grande, it's the political ones.

 

[gsdx]

Well, it seems that neither Trump nor his campaign team nor any of his supporters looked at a map when he made that promise.

Con men have been selling the Brooklyn Bridge for ages. One con man sold the Eiffel Tower for scrap metal. Trump sold America a wall that can't be built.

What's worse is that he and everyone else still thinks it can.

 

[Stardreamer]

This point can't be made emphatically enough. There is no agribusiness in the valley without irrigation, on either side of the river. Mexico will not give up access to that water. That's like act of war kind of territory.

You'd have to build your wall right down the middle of the river from El Paso to the Gulf.

- - - Updated - - -



It's not so much the engineering problems with the Rio Grande, it's the political ones.

No to mention the Rio Grande is reportedly a winding river which means it changes its path from time to time.

 

[KaraBulut]

I think the solution would then be for the US to cede the Rio Grande and build a wall along the shore on the US side.

In effect, they already have.

 

[Kulindahr]

Making this thing real is confounding. I've worked concrete and I think the footing for this monster would be impossible. I never considered the river.

Another good reason to build a series of fortified watch stations with drones.

 

[Kabluey]

Another good reason to build a series of fortified watch stations with drones.

Or just collect exit information (passport checks and completed exit forms) at all ports, like almost every other developed nation does, so you can tell who has overstayed their visa and who's legally in your country at any given time...

 

[Kulindahr]

Or just collect exit information (passport checks and completed exit forms) at all ports, like almost every other developed nation does, so you can tell who has overstayed their visa and who's legally in your country at any given time...

I don't see how that will help with security on the Mexican border.