Northwest Iowa — 4th District U.S. Congressman Steve King says he’s had a one-on-one conversation with President-Elect Donald Trump about plans for a wall along the border with Mexico.
King says the conversation took place “behind the curtain” at Trump’s “Thank You” rally in Des Moines last week.
King also talked twice last week with House Speaker Paul Ryan.
King’s vision here is not for just a single wall. It’s for three barriers: a fence, a wall and a fence. That would create a sort of “no man’s land” in between the fences and that wall, as King describes it.
The southern border is approximately two-thousand miles long. King expects construction on a secure border barrier to start in the first half of 2017. And King says Trump’s decision to nominate a “border hawk” to lead the Department of Homeland Security is another significant signal the wall will be built. King says a concrete wall, with wire fencing on either side, is the cheapest way to secure the border. Some critics say completely walling off the southern border sends the wrong signal about our democracy. Others say high tech surveillance can be used along the border. King says a “virtual wall” will not be effective. Government records indicate fencing is already in place along 700 miles of the 2000 mile border.
