TOPLINE
A video purporting to show images of Hurricane Hanna tearing down the United States-Mexico border wall in the Rio Grande Valley was actually taken at a construction site in June, according to officials, refuting people who turned to social media to criticize Trump’s wall for its poor construction.
A section of the wall in Brownsville, Texas, located on the United States-Mexico border on the Rio … [+]
KEY FACTS
“The US Customs and Border Protection Office is not aware of panels falling off the border walls due to Hurricane Hanna that hit the Rio Grande Valley sector last weekend,” the agency said. Forbes Monday.
CBP says the video was actually taken at a Defense Department construction site in New Mexico in June.
The video reportedly showed people wearing helmets watching a section of the wall that had been damaged by the wind, with the caption: “‘Hanna’ tore down part of the border wall being built between the United States and Mexico,” according to Call times.
The video, published by journalist Yadith Valdez, has been removed.
People on Twitter expressed outrage at the images, believing Hanna had knocked down the wall:
Big number
$ 18.4 billion. That’s what Trump is expected to spend on the U.S.-Mexico border wall until the end of 2020, according to the Washington Post.
Key background
Hurricane Hanna made landfall Saturday along the coast of the Gulf of South Texas, a region of the state that has also been hit by Covid-19. As a result of the hurricane, FEMA approved Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s federal emergency disaster declaration. Abbott declared a disaster in 32 counties, reports CNN.
Further reading
Statement on the wall video on Twitter (CBP)
Trump officials are considering a plan to divert billions of dollars in additional funds for the border barrier.Washington Post)
Hurricane Hanna weakens to tropical depression after making landfall in South Texas (CNN)
