Fact Check: Pete Buttigieg Dismisses Border Walls as Outdated ‘17th Century’ Tech

CLAIM: Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, claims that a border wall at the United States-Mexico border to protect Americans is a “17th Century” solution that only President Trump wants to use.

VERDICT: False. Border walls have regularly been built, constructed, and deployed to protect the borders and citizens of nations around the globe — including on the U.S. southern border to end illegal immigration.

“President Trump’s imagination of a national security strategy is a big wall and a moat full of alligators. It’s a 17th century approach to keeping a place safe,” Buttigieg said.

In fact, border walls are not and have never been considered an archaic solution to national security. As Breitbart News has chronicled, nations like Bulgaria, Slovenia, Israel, and Hungary have constructed border walls within the last decade and proven their effectiveness in protecting their nations’ citizens.

Likewise, Democrats once supported building a border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2006, for example, then-Sens. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Barbara Boxer all supported constructing a barrier at the southern border to protect Americans.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.