Did you know that there was a “Secure Fence Act” passed in 2006? It was a bill specifically dedicated towards securing our southern border and building a wall on the same.

The Secure Fence Act of 2006’s goal is to help secure America’s borders to decrease illegal entry, drug trafficking, and security threats by building 700 miles (1,100 km) of physical barriers along the Mexico-United States border. Additionally, the law authorizes more vehicle barriers, checkpoints, and lighting as well as authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to increase the use of advanced technology like cameras, satellites, and unmanned aerial vehicles to reinforce infrastructure at the border.[1] Congress approved $1.2 billion in a separate homeland security spending bill to bankroll the fence, though critics say this is $4.8 billion less than what’s likely needed to get it built.

The bill passed the House and Senate in September of 2006 with a significant majority vote from both chambers. President George W. Bush signed it into law on October 26, 2006.

Why this reminder? Because the media is now frothing at the mouth concerning the latest move by President-elect Trump and his transition team.

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has signaled to congressional Republican leaders that his preference is to fund the border wall through the appropriations process as soon as April, according to House Republican officials.

The move would break a key campaign promise when Trump repeatedly said he would force Mexico to pay for the construction of the wall along the border, though in October, Trump suggested for the first time that Mexico would reimburse the US for the cost of the wall.

According to the media, building the wall now, but getting payment from Mexico later is somehow breaking a campaign promise. Got it.

Anyway, the transition team along with several Republican leaders have been quietly working up a plan to fulfill Trump’s campaign promise.

While the media is jumping all over the fact that they want to build the wall NOW and negotiate payment from Mexico later, they are blatantly ignoring the reality that negotiating payment of any kind from Mexico is going to take LOTS of time, time we don’t have considering our southern border leaks like a sieve.

The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017

And of course…Great Wall is now trending on Twitter. The funny thing is, many forget that he used the same phrase back in August 2016.

Meanwhile, back to the headlines. If one ONLY reads the headlines, you’d think that Trump has jettisoned one of his key campaign promises – and Mexico will no longer have to foot the bill. However, as pointed out above, that’s not the case. The plan is still in place to have Mexico pay, but again the wall is a necessity now. The Trump team is confident that:

A. Preliminary funding of the wall through an authorization that was passed in 2006 but never funded is a way to jump start the process

B. Negotiations with Mexico will be successful in the short and long term concerning reimbursement for the wall.

After reading the variety of news reports its evident that both the Trump team and Republicans have a multi-layered, multi-year strategy concerning the wall, our southern borders, and an overall border security/immigration strategy.

Part of that strategy includes getting key Democrats on board. Democrats that voted YES on the original 2006 bill. Those Democrats include Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senators Feinstein, Wyden, Stabenow, and Carper. Oh to be a fly on the wall for THOSE negotiations! By the way, there were two other Senators who voted YES on that very same bill. These two.

Is our southern border majorly insecure? Yes. Is illegal immigration a significant problem? Yes. Did a lot of people think that Trump is all talk and no action? Yes. Well…I don’t know about you, but using all available tools and authorizations already in place to start building the wall while laying plans for funding and reimbursement by Mexico looks like action to me.