Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Donald Trump Tweeted 'We Will Build a Human Wall If Necessary,' So That's Basically What A Bunch of Trump Supporters Decided to Do

Donald Trump Tweeted 'We Will Build a Human Wall If Necessary,' So That's Basically What A Bunch of Trump Supporters Decided to Do
US President Donald Trump inspects border wall prototypes with Chief Patrol Agent Rodney S. Scott in San Diego, California on March 13, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Whut.

Last week, President Donald Trump claimed that the "crisis" at our nation's border is so catastrophic that "We will build a Human Wall if necessary."


It looks like some of the president's supporters have taken that tweet rather literally, according to reports that a group, donning "Make America Great Again" hats, gathered to form a human “wall” along a section of the U.S.-Mexico border in Sunland Park, New Mexico, just northwest of El Paso, Texas.

Pictures from the demonstration soon made the rounds online.

As did video footage:

Though it appears the "tremendous numbers" of immigrants streaming through the southern border had a previous engagement, those who participated in blocking them were swiftly criticized.

The president's claims of a "crisis" at the border are overblown.

Trump during his State of the Union address stressed the need for a border wall and announced that he had ordered 3,750 troops to prepare for what he referred to as a “tremendous onslaught."

The president further claimed that “No issue better illustrates the divide between America’s working-class and America’s political class than illegal immigration” and that “working-class Americans are left to pay the price for mass illegal immigration.”

In fact, the number of arrests by the Border Patrol is the lowest since the early 1970s, even as the number of agents has more than doubled.

Border Patrol made over 1.6 million arrests in 2000. At the time, there were just 9,600 agents nationwide. As the government has devoted more time and resources to staffing, surveillance technology, and fencing, that number has dropped steeply. 19,000 Border Patrol agents made 310,000 arrests during the last fiscal year.

Last week, the City Council in Nogales, a small Arizona border city, passed a resolution threatening to sue the federal government should it fail to remove all concertina wire installed within the city limits.

The council’s resolution says the barbed wire on the border wall, which runs through the downtown area, “is only found in a war, prison or battle setting” and would harm or kill any person or animal that might attempt to scale it.

The council’s resolution says placing concertina wire along the wall is “not only irresponsible but inhuman.”

The wire was installed by soldiers deployed by the Pentagon who have installed concertina wire at or near several official crossings. In November, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the military had sent 36 miles of concertina wire to be used at or near official crossings in Arizona, California, and Texas.

Despite the pushback, the president has continued to mount calls for more border security. Speaking at a rally in El Paso, Texas, he repeated a false claim about crime in the city in an attempt to drive up support for the border wall.

"I’ve been hearing a lot of things: ‘Oh the wall didn’t make that much of a difference.’ You know where it made a big difference? Right here in El Paso," he said.

This claim has been widely debunked after Trump claimed during his State of the Union address that El Paso transformed from “one of the most dangerous cities” into one of the safest cities in the United States after the construction of barriers at the border.

"El Paso was never one of the most dangerous cities in the country," writes New York Times fact checker Linda Qiu, noting that the city "has had a consistently lower crime rate than the average among more than 20 similarly sized cities, according to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

"In that group, El Paso reported the second-lowest violent crime rate in 2008 — before the construction of border fencing," she notes. "And after the barrier was completed, it held the rank while the violent crime rate did not change considerably."

More from People/donald-trump

Jasmine Crockett Calls Out Trump's Hypocrisy By Pointing Out How Melania Got Her Visa
Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for SiriusXM; Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

Jasmine Crockett Calls Out Trump's Hypocrisy By Pointing Out How Melania Got Her Visa

Texas Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett pointed out President Donald Trump's hypocrisy on immigration considering how First Lady Melania Trump's pathway to citizenship was possible because she received an "Einstein visa," which is usually reserved for an individual with "some sort of significant achievement."

Speaking during a House Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Restoring Integrity and Security to the Visa Process,” Crockett noted that “the idea that Trump and my Republican colleagues want to restore integrity and security in the visa process is actually a joke," and harshly criticized the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and visa restrictions.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots of Jennifer Griffin and Pete Hegseth
The Hill

Fox Host Comes To Reporter's Defense After Pete Hegseth Berates Her At Pentagon Briefing

Fox News' chief political analyst Brit Hume came to the defense of Fox national security reporter Jennifer Griffin after their former colleague, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, criticized Griffin as the reporter "who misrepresents the most intentionally what the president says” in a Pentagon news conference.

Hegseth, a former Fox News anchor, had criticized media outlets—including his former network—for what he described as unpatriotic reporting. Hegseth took particular aim at early intelligence assessments suggesting that President Donald Trump's bombing of Iran may not have significantly crippled Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

Keep ReadingShow less

Teachers Share The Questions Students Asked In Class That Broke Their Hearts

Being a teacher is a calling.

It is not for the meek or weak of heart.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Emily Compagno
Fox News

Fox Host Slams Dem For Dropping An F-Bomb After Praising Trump For The Same Thing Just Minutes Earlier

Fox News host Emily Compagno was criticized after she praised Donald Trump's use of the "f-bomb" earlier this week before condemning Texas Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett's use of the same word—on the same episode of her show, no less.

Trump made headlines this week after admonishing Israel and Iran for violating a ceasefire agreement he'd announced on Truth Social. Although he claimed the ceasefire had been "agreed upon," Iran fired at least six missile barrages at Israel after it was supposed to take effect.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ken Jennings; Emily Croke
@Jeopardy/Instagram

Champ's Wild Final Jeopardy Connection

In a dramatic conclusion on last Monday’s Jeopardy!, a contestant revealed a surprising relationship to the final clue's answer. Hailing from Denver, Emily Croke made it to the final write-in portion of the game show with $12,200 in earnings.

In the category of “Collections,” host Ken Jennings read the clue:

Keep ReadingShow less