The Trump administration will live stream the construction of the border wall despite objections from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, The Washington Post reports.
The Post reported that Jared Kushner and other senior officials are planning to install webcams to stream live video that the president can tweet to his followers.
“There will be a wall cam, and it’ll launch early next year,” a senior White House official told The Post.
Kushner first floated the idea in July as a way to counter criticism that Trump failed to deliver on his promise to build a border wall.
Government agencies oppose move:
The Army Corps of Engineers and CBP officials told Kushner that construction contractors opposed the plan because they did not want their proprietary techniques revealed to competitors.
The officials were also concerned that the cameras would “show U.S. work crews violating Mexican sovereignty because they sometimes must stray south of the border to maneuver their vehicles and heavy equipment in the desert,” The Post reported.
Officials also noted that some of the border areas do not have network connectivity so the webcams would have to be manually repositioned to show the construction.
Kushner was not dissuaded and continued to push for the webcams.
“Trump and other White House officials also have been eager for photos and videos of new barriers, including aerial footage, that the president can share on his Twitter account,” The Post reported.
Webcams will add to mounting wall cost:
It is unclear how much it will cost to set up the webcams or what technology will be used. “CBP has funds available for planning and mapping of the structure that could pay for the video feeds,” The Post reported.
The administration has built just 81 miles of the border “wall” so far, but nearly all of that has been “replacement” barrier to replace existing fencing.
“The project, which already has cost $10 billion in taxpayer funds, is behind schedule and faces major hurdles, including the need to acquire miles of privately held land in Texas where barriers are slated to be built,” The Post reported.
