This is an excerpt of “Overrun: How Joe Biden Unleashed the Greatest Border Crisis in U.S. History,” by Todd Bensman, out last month from Bombardier Books.
Biden set his work-freeze day for Jan. 27, 2021, a Wednesday. But after the November election, contractors ramped up work 24/7 to put up as much wall as possible before the inauguration, a literal race against time.
Curious to bear witness to the end of construction on that fateful morning, I set out in a rental truck west from El Paso on State Highway 9, which almost hugs the Mexican border only a half mile or a mile inside New Mexico. This was beautiful, if forbidding, high desert scrub brush country. Enormous brown vistas contrasted hard against blue sky. I’d always loved this stretch of border for its escarpments and burgeoning hills, which struck me as otherworldly, evocative of images delivered to us from the Mars exploration rovers.
The drive west along 9 provided a constant view of the long brown wall always on the left. The plan was easy: drive until I could see where the wall stopped and then go there and report whatever was happening. I was hoping to meet Border Patrol agents who worked the area before the wall went up and hear what they would have to contend with after the construction halt.
Listening to wall opponents and their arguments over time, I’d come to really appreciate Border Patrol agents as the most reliable experts on border security
