Contracted to Lie About the Border

By Sam Stone

The Arizona Republic recently ran this opinion piece by Eddie Jones, founder of Jones Studio, an architectural firm that does a ton of government contracting, including work on border checkpoints. In it, Jones makes the following claims:

“What my colleagues and I have witnessed is in no way a security crisis — no caravans, no invasions, no surges.  

While the viral film footage out of Texas showing hundreds of men, women, children and the elderly seeking a better life for their families is heartbreakingly real, the obvious fact that this mass of despairing humanity is held at bay in Mexico would certainly suggest that the border is still secure.”

Not one word of those claims is remotely true. Let’s break it down (and roll the tapes!)

“No caravans” Eddie? What about this one from June 2022?

Or this one, from December, 2023?

Or this one, from last month?

Eddie also claims there’s “no invasion.” Once again, let’s roll the tape:

Looks like an invasion to me, and Eddie looks like he’s 0-2. Let’s go to Eddie’s claim about “no surges”…

Yup, that’s a surge. Eddie is strikes out on three pitches. 

As for his claim that most of the migrants are being held in Mexico, that WAS true – under President Donald Trump. But since Joe Biden threw out the Title 42 protections that were keeping them there, the surge has been flowing steadily across the U.S. border. Mexico is just a rest stop for most of these migrants who are coming from China, India, the Middle East, and the Southern reaches of Latin America. 

The piece also touts Jones Studio’s work transforming border crossings “…we let architecture and landscape humanize the sidewalk by creating shade and visual activation…” 

Jones further cites contracting his company as an example of humanizing policy: “With our modernization and expansion of the existing port of entry in Otay Mesa, Calif., we let architecture and landscape humanize the sidewalk by creating shade and visual activation.”

Earth to Eddie and AZCentral: while ensuring legal cross border traffic flows smoothly and efficiently is essential, the millions of taxpayer dollars poured into turning border checkpoints into “walkable urban landscapes” is exactly the kind of useless, paying-off-their-friends garbage that Democrats keep touting and absolutely no one else gives a crap about. Does the public care if border checkpoints have beautiful architecture in place of barbed wire? Hell no. Do they allow legal traffic and prevent illegal smuggling? Yes? That’s enough, you can stop spending our money right there.

Jones Studio is a government contractor that is handed a lot of no-bid (or rigged-bid) contracts from both the federal government, and local governments like the City of Phoenix. It’s not surprising to see them doing the naked partisan bidding of their Democrat sugar daddies come election time. This is the political payoff for the millions Jones Studio has made on the public dole, and yet another example of an area of politics that Republicans need to put aside our squeamishness and use the power of government just like Democrats do. When Trump gets into office, he should assign a task force to examine every federal contractor for political bias, and cut off the contracting spigot for firms like Jones Studio that trade contracts for Democrat campaign contributions. 

Note: the opinions expressed herein are those of Sam Stone only and not his co-host Chuck Warren or Breaking Battlegrounds’ staff.