Border security

Smugglers are using commercial power tools to get through Trump's border wall

A household tool is making it easier for drug cartels to breach President Donald Trump's border wall and illegally enter the United States.

The smugglers often use a reciprocating saw, a popular cordless power tool that can be purchased at retail hardware outlets for as little as $100, according to The Washington Post. If specialized blades are attached to it, reciprocating saws are capable of cutting all the way through the steel-and-concrete bollards that comprise the border wall in minutes. After that, the smugglers can push the detached section of the barrier out of the way and create a gap large enough for one adult to get through.

At the border wall section in the San Diego area, some smugglers have found ways of returning the detached bollards to their original positions so that they can be reused. Border patrol agents have addressed this by learning how to spot visual signs that a bollard has been breached, although some smugglers have found tricks to attempt to conceal those signs and thereby trick the border patrol agents. This practice is a reason why the number of people who can illegally cross the southern border has not been completely eliminated, although it has diminished.