The construction of a border wall between the United States and Mexico will not, by itself, solve America's porous border issue, security officials told Defense One.
The website spoke with officials both on and off the record and concluded that President Donald Trump's order to have a wall built is the first of many improvements that needs to take place along America's southern border.
"We're not ready to do it yet," an unnamed U.S. Customs and Border Protection official told Defense One regarding total security at the border. "I think it will take years."
The bigger problem, officials said, deals with technology. The Border Patrol has hundreds of cameras along the border that collect photos of people illegally entering the U.S. There are also mobile processing units for recording border crossers' biometric data, while some agents have handheld devices.
Areas with rugged terrain, however, make it harder for agents to send and receive the very data they are collecting and would like to lean on when it comes to capturing border crossers.
"On the Southwest border, if you look at the Verizon or AT&T map, it's covered," Antonio Trindad, the director of enforcement systems for Customs and Border Protection, told Defense One.
"But we're in canyons. Mountains block things. It's small areas we have to worry about not being covered."
Trindad added that targeting the guides who escort people across the border would be another effective way to stop the flow of illegal immigration.
Trump said Wednesday he expects construction on the wall to begin in months, and "certainly planning is starting immediately."
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