Tortilla Wall

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The Tortilla wall

View of Tortilla Wall at the Pacific Ocean

Parts of the wall are built with concrete pillars (bollards) to prevent vehicle crash-throughs

The Tortilla Wall is a term given to a 14 mile (22.5 kilometer) section of United States border fence between the Otay Mesa Border Crossing in San Diego, California and the Pacific Ocean^{[citation needed]}.

This "San Diego wall" was completed in the early 1990s. While there are other walls at various points along the border, the Tortilla Wall is the longest to date. No other wall sections have evolved distinct names, so The Tortilla Wall is often used to describe the entire set of walled defensive structures.

The Tortilla Wall is marked with graffiti, crosses, photos and remembrances of individuals who have died trying to illegally cross into the United States.

1 Effectiveness
2 The Future of the Tortilla Wall
3 Anecdotal Wall Stories
4 Ease of demolition
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Effectiveness

The effectiveness of the wall has been significant according to U.S. Congressional testimony

"...apprehensions along the region with a security fence dropped from 202,000 in 1992 to 9,000 in 1994."

The building of the tortilla wall is generally considered by Mexicans to be an unfriendly gesture.^{[citation needed]} It is a symbol of the controversial immigration issue. It is argued that the wall simply forces illegal border crossings to be moved to the more dangerous area of the Arizona desert.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The Future of the Tortilla Wall

In 2006, the U.S. Congress voted The Secure Fence Act of 2006 which authorized spending $1.2 billion to build 700 miles (1,100 km) of additional fencing on the southern border facing Mexico. Additional fencing would lend some plausibility that the Tortilla Wall will continue to have support on the U.S. side.

[edit] Anecdotal Wall Stories

Drug tunnel under the wall. The tunnel was pumped full of concrete after discovery

Tunnels under the wall are still a popular way to cross the border. Some tunnels are quite sophisticated. One such tunnel created by smugglers ran from Tijuana to San Diego, was a half mile long, and included a concrete floor as well as electricity.^[1] Other tunnels have included steel rails, while some tunnels are simply dirt passageways or connect to sewer or drain systems.^[2]

As a stunt, a circus cannon was placed on the south side of the wall and an acrobat was blasted over the wall into the Border Field State Park in the U.S. He had his passport with him.^[3]

[edit] Ease of demolition

There are some technical ambiguities with respect to this conjecture, as the quality of the US wall varies over its length.

It is possible for small sections of this wall structure to be blown away like the Atlantic Wall of WWII via the use of Bangalore Torpedos. The US wall is not like the so called Iron Curtain as it is not a solid structure that is defended over its full length.

The Bangalore torpedo was first devised by Captain McClintock, of the British Army in the state of Bengal at Bangalore, India in 1912. He invented it as a means of exploding booby traps and barricades left over from the Boer and Russo-Japanese Wars. The Bangalore torpedo would be exploded over a mine without the sapper having to approach closer than about three meters (ten feet).

The Bangalore torpedo was later adopted by the U.S. Army as well during World War II, as the M1A1 Bangalore Torpedo. It was widely used by both the U.S. and Commonwealth forces, notably during D-Day. The use of a Bangalore Torpedo to clear a barbed wire barrier is depicted in the D-Day beach invasion scene in the films The Longest Day, and The Big Red One.

The Bangalore Torpedo continues to be used today by NATO in the little-changed M1A2 version. It is still primarily used to breach wire obstacles, allowing soldiers to subsequently clear a path of mines using hand-emplaced demolitions, grappling hooks, or other means.

American combat engineers have also been known to construct similar, "field-expedient" versions of the Bangalore by assembling segments of metal picket posts and filling the concave portion with C4 explosive.

There are civilian versions of this munition that do not use C4. The civilian versions are designed so that farmers can use the device for fence or obstacle clearing. This explosive device is generally used in conjunction with a contractor that is skilled in its use. Depending on local regulation, it may be necessary to get explosives use permits to use this device in Agricultural or Pastoral modes.