---
[ WORLD WATCH ](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch)
# Brilliant New $5.34 Ladder Defeats Not So Brilliant $2.5 Billion Trump Fever Dream
February 17 2020
Written by Abby Zimet.
[](https://www.addtoany.com/share)
**CITYWATCH TODAY**--Thanks to his ineffable stupidity - cue hilariously skewered [tweet ](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1228666350635290624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1228697280133390339&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.democraticunderground.com%2F100212990663)about [kings ](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/2/15/1919438/--YOU-ARE-NOT-A-KING-trends-on-Twitter-after-Trump-suggests-otherwise)and Ralph Waldo Emerson, who he probably thinks is that guy in kids' books always hiding in crowds - Trump has proposed spending another $3.8 billion for his "beautiful" and "impregnable" border wall - the [estimated](https://www.politifact.com/california/statements/2017/apr/28/scott-peters/would-trumps-border-wall-cost-same-one-and-half-us/) [$21.7 billion](https://www.politifact.com/california/statements/2017/apr/28/scott-peters/would-trumps-border-wall-cost-same-one-and-half-us/) one that Mexico was gonna pay for, that so far has seen just [100 miles ](https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/10/trump-proposes-2-b-border-wall-democrats-criticize-priorities/4715485002/)refurbished, that he once [claimed](https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-said-this-wall-cant-be-climbed-professional-climbers-say-hes-full-of-sht) couldn't be climbed by world-class climbers who charged he was "full of shit as usual," and that has prompted savvy observers to[ note](https://www.irishtimes.com/business/innovation/writing-may-be-on-the-wall-for-trump-s-border-wall-1.4079476), “The day they build a 10-foot wall on the Texan border, the 11-foot ladder business in Mexico will boom." Just so: Over time, scores of aspiring migrants have successfully breached the stupidity with an array of unsurprising tools.
They've [scrambled up](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/12/04/newly_constructed_border_wall_defeated_by_a_ladder_in_minutes.html) it singly or in pairs with cheap rope and wood ladders, shimmying down fireman-style; they've [scaled it i](https://secondnexus.com/news/arizona-border-patrol-wall-ladders-trump)n groups, with Border Patrol video to prove it; they've both [sliced ](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/smugglers-usd100-hardware-store-power-tools-saw-holes-in-trumps-usd10-billion-wall.html)through it with $100 power saws and then learned to slyly leave the severed posts in place for up-and-coming fellow-travelers, a [trick ](https://twitter.com/fotornelas/status/1202065077328924672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1202065077328924672&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffpost.com%2Fentry%2Fdonald-trump-border-wall-camouflage-ladder-scaling_n_5e4775e5c5b64433c616a7d5)border agents now check for by kicking the fence (but only, of course, after they're through); they've welcomed Mother Nature's [windy ](https://www.newsweek.com/trump-border-wall-blows-over-california-mexico-1484817)help; and they've gotten at least one Jeep atop the wall by ramp, but then got it stuck. Last year, their supporters also campaigned to Make [Tacos Not Walls,](https://twitter.com/hashtag/MakeTacosNotWalls?src=hashtag_click) and [raised ](https://www.gofundme.com/f/ladders-to-get-over-trump039s-wall)over $160,000 for "Ladders Not Walls," which in fact went to the Texas-based [RAICES.](https://www.raicestexas.org/about/)
Now, Mexicans still determined to come here despite our national mayhem [have discovered ](https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2020/02/14/smugglers-in-mexico-use-camouflage-ladder-to-cross-b%20%20order-wall/4760798002/)a new, cheap, go-to method of scaling Dear Leader's pesky, pointless pet project. Using two lengths of light, cubed, readily available rebar called castillo - ubiquitous in Mexican construction and LOL the wall itself - they're [fashioning ](http://bit.ly/2HnOGd0)hook-and-ladder rigs; the rebar is fitted with steps, and connected to four thinner poles bent into a U-shape to hug the top of the wall. The rust-colored rebar is naturally, fortuitously[ camouflaged,](https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2020/02/14/smugglers-in-mexico-use-camouflage-ladder-to-cross-b%20%20order-wall/4760798002/) barely visible against the rust brown wall. And it's dirt cheap: Six meters of castillo cost 99 pesos, about $5.34, at Juárez' Hágalo - or Do It Yourself - True Value hardware store.
Last spring, the new ladders started turning up near the El Paso section of wall, where the number of single male migrants who mostly use them has nearly doubled in recent months; border agents say the level of "evading activity" has likewise soared. Last week, they [found](https://www.ktsm.com/news/juarez/ladders-discovered-near-tornillo-port-of-entry-along-the-border-fence/) 9 ladders in one spot. Meanwhile, the whole stretch of border is littered with rusted rebar - waiting on the Mexican side, yanked down on the U.S. side, poking from dumpsters, their users long gone. Outwitted and conscripted into ludicrous service, agents say all they can do is pull abandoned ladders off the wall, cut them up, and hope they can't be used again. "It's a very powerful, very powerful wall," Trump brayed at a September rally there, "the likes of which, probably, to this extent, has not been built before."
*"A wise man lets a fool build a wall before choosing the height of his ladder.”* - Socrates
*(CityWatch guest columnist Abby Zimet writes for CommonDreams.org … where this perspective was first posted.)*
*-cw*
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/107 "LA DWP | Save $4K, Green | Priority Ad")
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/98 "Donna Tryfman - HS1-1")
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/82 "LA DWP #2 (Power Savers)")
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/111 "David DeJute Campaign")
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/97 "Home - LA DWP #2 (Pay Water Bill Help)")
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/112 "Anna Reitano Vertical R. Col")
## Get The News In Your Email Inbox Mondays & Thursdays
Email
---
## Featured CityWatch Stories
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/33349-l-a-county-faces-a-government-shake-up)
### [L.A. County Faces a Government Shake-Up](https://www.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/33349-l-a-county-faces-a-government-shake-up)
WESTSIDE - Currently larger than 40 states in terms of population with roughly 10 million residents, Los Angeles County…
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/voices/33346-before-we-ask-god-to-judge-us-the-jewish-people-must-judge-ourselves)
### [Before We Ask God to Judge Us, the Jewish People Must Judge Ourselves](https://www.citywatchla.com/voices/33346-before-we-ask-god-to-judge-us-the-jewish-people-must-judge-ourselves)
Yom Kippur demands more than personal repentance. At a defining moment for Jews everywhere, it asks whether we have tru…
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/voices/33372-the-greater-israel-delusion-may-undo-israel)
### [The Greater Israel Delusion May Undo Israel](https://www.citywatchla.com/voices/33372-the-greater-israel-delusion-may-undo-israel)
ANNEXATION - The vision of “Greater Israel” draws on maximalist readings of biblical verses, especially Genesis 15:18–2…
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch/33366-israels-political-map-is-being-redrawn)
### [Israel’s Political Map Is Being Redrawn](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch/33366-israels-political-map-is-being-redrawn)
NETANYAHUISM - The next Israeli election may be about something larger than Benjamin Netanyahu. For the first time in a…
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/33347-la-stop-the-war-on-cars-they-arent-going-away)
### [LA, Stop the War on Cars. They Aren’t Going Away](https://www.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/33347-la-stop-the-war-on-cars-they-arent-going-away)
LA TRANSPO - For anyone traversing the San Fernando Valley, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: Los Angeles is sp…
---
## [ WORLD WATCH ](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch)
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch/32951-venezuela-needs-the-world-more-than-ever-english-spanish)### [Venezuela Needs the World More Than Ever \[English & Spanish\]](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch/32951-venezuela-needs-the-world-more-than-ever-english-spanish)
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch/32873-netanyahus-betrayal-of-israels-promise)### [Netanyahu’s Betrayal Of Israel’s Promise](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch/32873-netanyahus-betrayal-of-israels-promise)
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch/32727-turkeys-egregious-human-rights-violations-are-beyond-the-pale)### [Turkey’s Egregious Human Rights Violations Are Beyond The Pale](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch/32727-turkeys-egregious-human-rights-violations-are-beyond-the-pale)
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch/32427-from-epic-fury-to-a-trap-of-trumps-own-making-finding-the-way-out)### [From ‘Epic Fury’ To A Trap Of Trump’s Own Making: Finding The Way Out](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch/32427-from-epic-fury-to-a-trap-of-trumps-own-making-finding-the-way-out)
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch/32307-top-7-mongolia-travel-tips-for-2026)### [Top 7 Mongolia Travel Tips for 2026](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch/32307-top-7-mongolia-travel-tips-for-2026)