SAN DIEGO — Former President Donald Trump built 77 miles of border wall in California with only a sporadic 19 miles to go. One major piece is missing: a 50-foot section bordering Tijuana.
On Tuesday night, Rep. Darrell Issa, the lone Republican congressional member in San Diego County, visited the border, something he has been doing regularly since he was first elected in 2000. He’s been waiting a long time for a wall to be constructed, but in its current form, it’s bittersweet.
“It’s like someone built a wall with an open gate that never closes,” Issa told the Washington Examiner. “People can still walk right in.”
The area he visited is rugged hillside overlooking Tijuana, accessible by driving a four-wheel-drive sport utility vehicle along a dirt road. Mexican homes are clearly visible immediately on the other side of a secondary fence.
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Several smaller pieces of the wall were missing nearby as well. Issa waited, and in less than an hour, encountered two men who walked down a path after crossing in the other area.
U.S. Border Patrol agents were also at the site, and they questioned the first, who was carrying a backpack and spoke fluent English. He was from Sudan, a country that came off America’s terrorism watchlist in December. This week, the United States received a $335 million settlement from Sudan for its terrorist attacks on the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, along with the USS Cole.
The second man was from Eritrea, which is also in Africa. Eritrea has a history of human rights abuses, forcing men into military service and jailing dissenters indefinitely.
Both men were detained and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said a spokesperson with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Within another hour, a dozen Mexicans in a group that included a woman and two girls crossed through the same opening as the two men. They were detained as well, Issa said.
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“Every American should be concerned about the national security implications of the Biden administration’s belief in open borders and their refusal to show the truth of the damage their policies have done in only a few short weeks,” Issa said.
