Federal Report Shows Ways Border Wall Barriers Can be Evaded

During his border visit Thursday, President Donald Trump insisted again that his proposed wall will work.

But NBC News released an exclusive picture that shows a common saw was able to slice through one of the proposed steel barriers. The NBC4 I-Team got its hands on the government report that talks about that -- and has been looking into the claims being made about the border wall.

The federal report reveals the various ways the barriers can be evaded. Border patrol and military teams tested the mock-ups using custom tools and many times got through the walls.

They also ran timed climbing scenarios. NBC News' exclusive photo, which is part of a heavily redacted report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows many of the models were breached. The revelations are not changing the minds of some border agents who say the wall would help them.

"What the barrier does is slow them down long enough so we can respond appropriately," said Joshua Wilson, a Border Patrol union representative from National Border Patrol Council, Local 1613.

But not one suspected terrorist was arrested along the southern border in 2017, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says land ports of entry, not stretches of borders without barriers, are where most of the drugs are coming through and Customs and Border Protection data shows the number of undocumented immigrants arrested along the southern border has been dropping since 2000.

It's work done by agents who Wilson says are currently working for free because of the government shutdown. He is calling on Congress to help fund a border wall.

"We use manpower with boots on the ground," he said. "That is always going to be necessary without regard for what type of infrastructure is out there."