President Donald Trump used old photos of an existing border wall project when he tweeted about the “start of” his controversial plan to build a border wall along the southern border of the country.
Trump tweeted that he had a “great briefing” on Wednesday about “the start of our Southern Border WALL!” with pictures of a wall being built.
Great briefing this afternoon on the start of our Southern Border WALL! pic.twitter.com/pmCNoxxlkH
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2018
The only problem? The pictures Trump used in the tweet are of a project that is replacing existing parts of a border wall in southern California, as BuzzFeed points out.
In February, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said a 2.25-mile section of wall near Calexico, California would be replaced with a 30-foot high wall, calling it one of the agency’s “highest priority projects.”
The wall that is being replaced was built in the 1990s, according to the agency. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the project began in 2009 under former President Barack Obama.
In fact, Border Patrol agent Justin Castrejon told the newspaper: “It is not a new wall. It’s a replacement wall.”
In fact, in February, the Customs & Border Protection agency in San Diego tweeted some of the pictures that wound up in Trump’s tweet.
A #BorderWall replacement project has begun near downtown #Calexico within #USBP #ElCentro Sector. 2.25 miles of old landing mat wall will be replaced with 30-foot high bollard style. Read: https://t.co/owC57XK2Dh pic.twitter.com/TAFqh3HPjv
— CBP San Diego (@CBPSanDiego) February 23, 2018
Trump’s use of photos to signal the start of his controversial wall was quickly mocked. While many noticed that the pictures were not from the start of his border wall, as he suggested, hundreds of people took Trump’s tweet to mean that construction has begun.
That's a fence not a wall and it's a replacement of what was already there. You've done nothing but pat yourself on the back for things you haven't done.
— Denise 🌻 #BidenHarris2024 🇺🇦 #SlavaUkraini 🇵🇱 (@elevenstars) March 28, 2018
Yet another lie. This is fence replacement. https://t.co/yHlv0j9ZqY
— Jeff Pearlman (@jeffpearlman) March 29, 2018
https://twitter.com/lindeeloo_who/status/979179260660404225
https://twitter.com/ItsMeDoublEE/status/979334684789346304
Trump also once claimed that he wouldn’t start doing construction on the border in California until he got funding for the entire wall.
I have decided that sections of the Wall that California wants built NOW will not be built until the whole Wall is approved. Big victory yesterday with ruling from the courts that allows us to proceed. OUR COUNTRY MUST HAVE BORDER SECURITY!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2018
So there’s that, too.
You can read all of BuzzFeed’s report here.