There will be a wall. And there will be stuff that gets in its way. Private property. Jaguars. Indian reservations. Desert. Egos. National parks. A really long river. Toads. Etc. Read:
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump ordered the construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall and again insisted Mexico pay, flaming diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
Reports USA Today:
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, who had been scheduled to meet with Trump on Jan. 31, canceled after publicly condemning Trump's executive order Wednesday authorizing construction of the wall.
Again rejecting Trump's claim that Mexico will finance the barrier, Peña Nieto said, "I regret and reject the decision of the U.S. to build the wall."
The White House says a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports would pay for the wall.
Build a wall. It seems simple enough. Like most things, it's easier said than done.
A paper published by the Americas Society and Council of the Americas points out Trump's border wall would mean private property seizures by the federal government. A wall to cover the more than 1,950 miles area from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico would bissect national parks and Indian reservations and cross borders of four U.S. and six Mexican states. The Rio Grande flows along 1,240 of the border's miles, but the border's terrain varies, from desert to mountains, according to AS / ACS. As of 2014, 653 miles of border fence already exist, the report states. The rest? The rest would cost a lot of money.
(Story continued below...)
Check out the report, which includes a history not only of the border wall, but a history of how the border itself took shape.
Brandon Azul, 17, walks away from a monument marking Mexico's border with the United States in Tijuana, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017. President Donald Trump moved aggressively to tighten the nation's immigration controls Wednesday, signing executive actions to jumpstart construction of his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall and cut federal grants for immigrant-protecting "sanctuary cities." (AP Photo/Julie Watson)
In this Monday, Dec. 10, 2012 photo, Syrian girls who fled their homes with their families peek out of their makeshift school at a camp for displaced Syrians in the village of Atmeh, Syria. This tent camp sheltering some of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians uprooted by the country's brutal civil war has lost the race against winter: the ground under white tents is soaked in mud, rain water seeps into thin mattresses and volunteer doctors routinely run out of medicine for coughing, runny-nosed children. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) ORG XMIT: XMM514
Rep. Dan Kirby talks briefly to fellow legislators. State representatives meet for an organizational day in the House chamber on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017. Initial discussion focused on the resignation/non-resignation of Rep. Dan Kirby, Tulsa, who has been accused of sexual harassment with a former staff member. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman]
POTUS Trump loves Twitter. Here's a feud from the last 24 hours, apparently prompted by a column written by Chelsea Manning, the convicted leaker who gave hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks. One of Barack Obama's last moves as president was to commute most of Manning's sentence:
Ungrateful TRAITOR Chelsea Manning, who should never have been released from prison, is now calling President Barack Obama a weak leader. Terrible!
<figure><img src="//cdn2.newsok.biz/cache/r960-60e2b0e215b19720384a934219385f9c.jpg" alt="Photo - In this Monday, Dec. 10, 2012 photo, Syrian girls who fled their homes with their families peek out of their makeshift school at a camp for displaced Syrians in the village of Atmeh, Syria. This tent camp sheltering some of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians uprooted by the country's brutal civil war has lost the race against winter: the ground under white tents is soaked in mud, rain water seeps into thin mattresses and volunteer doctors routinely run out of medicine for coughing, runny-nosed children. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) ORG XMIT: XMM514" title="In this Monday, Dec. 10, 2012 photo, Syrian girls who fled their homes with their families peek out of their makeshift school at a camp for displaced Syrians in the village of Atmeh, Syria. This tent camp sheltering some of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians uprooted by the country's brutal civil war has lost the race against winter: the ground under white tents is soaked in mud, rain water seeps into thin mattresses and volunteer doctors routinely run out of medicine for coughing, runny-nosed children. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) ORG XMIT: XMM514"><figcaption>In this Monday, Dec. 10, 2012 photo, Syrian girls who fled their homes with their families peek out of their makeshift school at a camp for displaced Syrians in the village of Atmeh, Syria. This tent camp sheltering some of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians uprooted by the country's brutal civil war has lost the race against winter: the ground under white tents is soaked in mud, rain water seeps into thin mattresses and volunteer doctors routinely run out of medicine for coughing, runny-nosed children. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) ORG XMIT: XMM514</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="//cdn2.newsok.biz/cache/r960-506407dd2274bce195973a580c1d0b00.jpg" alt="Photo - Rep. Dan Kirby talks briefly to fellow legislators. State representatives meet for an organizational day in the House chamber on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017. Initial discussion focused on the resignation/non-resignation of Rep. Dan Kirby, Tulsa, who has been accused of sexual harassment with a former staff member. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman]
" title="Rep. Dan Kirby talks briefly to fellow legislators. State representatives meet for an organizational day in the House chamber on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017. Initial discussion focused on the resignation/non-resignation of Rep. Dan Kirby, Tulsa, who has been accused of sexual harassment with a former staff member. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman]
"><figcaption>Rep. Dan Kirby talks briefly to fellow legislators. State representatives meet for an organizational day in the House chamber on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017. Initial discussion focused on the resignation/non-resignation of Rep. Dan Kirby, Tulsa, who has been accused of sexual harassment with a former staff member. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman]
</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="//cdn2.newsok.biz/cache/r960-635e8cbfb94265d233344578c151038f.jpg" alt="Photo - Syrian refugee children enjoy a swing ride at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017. The European Commission said conditions for refugees on islands and other camps where they are housed in tents despite severe cold weather, is "untenable." (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)" title="Syrian refugee children enjoy a swing ride at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017. The European Commission said conditions for refugees on islands and other camps where they are housed in tents despite severe cold weather, is "untenable." (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)"><figcaption>Syrian refugee children enjoy a swing ride at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017. The European Commission said conditions for refugees on islands and other camps where they are housed in tents despite severe cold weather, is "untenable." (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="//cdn2.newsok.biz/cache/r960-d45651bf272352a0fc8ce7e751e3ef91.jpg" alt="Photo - Maria Martinez, of Detroit, holds onto an American flag during a Michigan United press conference at its Detroit headquarters Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017, which called for protection of immigrant and Muslim community members after comments and actions made by President Donald Trump. (Tanya Moutzalias /The Ann Arbor News via AP)" title="Maria Martinez, of Detroit, holds onto an American flag during a Michigan United press conference at its Detroit headquarters Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017, which called for protection of immigrant and Muslim community members after comments and actions made by President Donald Trump. (Tanya Moutzalias /The Ann Arbor News via AP)"><figcaption>Maria Martinez, of Detroit, holds onto an American flag during a Michigan United press conference at its Detroit headquarters Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017, which called for protection of immigrant and Muslim community members after comments and actions made by President Donald Trump. (Tanya Moutzalias /The Ann Arbor News via AP)</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="//cdn2.newsok.biz/cache/r960-4bda533c9903028b21d937aa1f453c00.jpg" alt="Photo - Brandon Azul, 17, walks away from a monument marking Mexico's border with the United States in Tijuana, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017. President Donald Trump moved aggressively to tighten the nation's immigration controls Wednesday, signing executive actions to jumpstart construction of his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall and cut federal grants for immigrant-protecting "sanctuary cities." (AP Photo/Julie Watson)" title="Brandon Azul, 17, walks away from a monument marking Mexico's border with the United States in Tijuana, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017. President Donald Trump moved aggressively to tighten the nation's immigration controls Wednesday, signing executive actions to jumpstart construction of his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall and cut federal grants for immigrant-protecting "sanctuary cities." (AP Photo/Julie Watson)"><figcaption>Brandon Azul, 17, walks away from a monument marking Mexico's border with the United States in Tijuana, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017. President Donald Trump moved aggressively to tighten the nation's immigration controls Wednesday, signing executive actions to jumpstart construction of his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall and cut federal grants for immigrant-protecting "sanctuary cities." (AP Photo/Julie Watson)</figcaption></figure>
Juliana Keeping
Juliana Keeping is on the enterprise reporting team for The Oklahoman and NewsOK.com.
Keeping joined the staff of The Oklahoman in 2012. Prior to that time, she worked in the Chicago media at the SouthtownStar, winning a Peter Lisagor Award...
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![Rep. Dan Kirby talks briefly to fellow legislators. State representatives meet for an organizational day in the House chamber on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017. Initial discussion focused on the resignation/non-resignation of Rep. Dan Kirby, Tulsa, who has been accused of sexual harassment with a former staff member. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman]](http://cdn2.newsok.biz/cache/w620-506407dd2274bce195973a580c1d0b00.jpg)
![Rep. Dan Kirby talks briefly to fellow legislators. State representatives meet for an organizational day in the House chamber on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017. Initial discussion focused on the resignation/non-resignation of Rep. Dan Kirby, Tulsa, who has been accused of sexual harassment with a former staff member. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman]](http://cdn2.newsok.biz/cache/sq150-506407dd2274bce195973a580c1d0b00.jpg)
