PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2016-09-22 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • President Obama Is Giving Mexico $75 Million to Build a Southern Border Wall (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • In September 2016, a number of web outlets published articles asserting that President Obama was providing Mexico with $75 million in order to construct a wall on that country's southern border (i.e., the frontier between Mexico and Guatemala and Belize). Items about President Obama's investment in a Mexican wall were published to many blogs and Facebook pages, with one popular version stating: Another version of the rumor maintained: Most such articles cited a 15 September 2016 Newsmax piece whose only reference to a wall was a metaphor, mentioning an invisible wall along Mexico's southern border with Central America: Newsmax in turned linked to a 14 September 2016 Financial Times article (virtually inaccessible behind a paywall) that described how Mexico had essentially become a (metaphorical) wall against migrants from Central American countries attempting to flee to the U.S. That article referenced the $75 million figure, clearly noted as being for equipment and training and not the construction of a wall: Ultimately, what all those articles referenced was a February 2016 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on U.S.-Mexican Security Cooperation that mentioned plans for the U.S. to provide at least $75 million in assistance to Mexico. However, that money would not be given to Mexico for the construction of a physical wall (which would largely be impractical given the geography of the region), but rather it would be provided in the form of U.S. training and equipment assistance (e.g., nonintrusive inspection equipment, mobile kiosks, canine teams, immigration agents) to help Mexico secure their southern border and better deal with shared U.S.-Mexico concerns over drug trafficking and immigration: As the report indicated, the State Department (not President Obama) plan[ned] to spend approximately $75 million in total over an unspecified period of time in a joint effort between the U.S. and Mexico to manage their borders. Those funds will go towards providing equipment and training, not bricks and mortar. (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url