Smuggling gangs in Mexico have continuously sawed through President Trump’s controversial border wall using every day power tools, according the U.S. agents and officials with knowledge of the incidents.

The security breaches, made with a popular cordless reciprocating saw that can sell for less than $100, has been used to open gaps large enough for people and drug loads to filter through.

When fitted with 'specialized' blades, the tool can break through one of the wall's steel and concrete bollards in just minutes.

The Washington Post reports that after slicing through a bollard, smugglers will push the steel out of the way, allowing an adult to fit through the opened space.

Smuggling gangs from Mexico are bypassing Trump's border wall by sawing through the structure with popular power tools like a reciprocating saw

Kevin Trumble, a materials engineering professor at Purdue University, and Srinivasan Chandrasekar, an industrial engineering professor at Purdue, both said a skilled person with a reciprocating saw could cut through the bollard.

A severed bollard can allegedly be moved out of the way with a simple car jack.

Chandrasekar said: 'You could use another device, like an abrasive saw, that would go even faster, but they create sparks because they operate at a high speed.'

They estimate that it would take an operator between 15 to 20 minutes to cut through the bollard, and even less if the operator is working with a team.

Smuggling crews have adapted other ways to scale the wall, like building ladders to hop overtop into popular smuggling areas like San Diego.

Pictured: a reciprocating saw similar to the one smuggling gangs are using to slice through steel and concrete bollards at the barrier

Criminal organizations in Mexico, which generate billions of dollars in revenue, have personal motivations to refit their operations to bypass new border obstacles and law enforcement methods.

Similarly, President Trump has a large incentive to prove this border wall can stop smugglers who've snuck through using simple hardware appliances.

The border wall was a focal point that Trump used to vitalize his base throughout his presidency.

Trump's campaign promised that Mexico would pay for the wall, but thus far the almost $10 billion budget has come from taxpayer money from U.S funding sources like the Defense Department.

He's called the barrier 'virtually impenetrable' and compared it as the 'Rolls-Royce' that people will not be able to pass.

The federal government has not publicly revealed the extent of the border wall's breaches and it is not clear how many incidents have occurred.

One senior official admitted it was 'a few instances', but the wall had 'significantly increased security and deterrence.'

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection reportedly beefed up security at the San Diego and El Centro areas in California.

Officials maintain that new bollard systems are far better than previous models.

Ronald Vitiello, the former U.S. Border Patrol chief who was the director of ICE until April, referred to the smuggling crew breaches as 'poking and prodding.'

He said: 'The cartels will continue to innovate, and they’re not just going to leave San Diego because the wall gets better. That’s life on the border.'

President Trump initially wanted a concrete wall, but Homeland Security officials suggested a bollard system wall because agents could see through to the other side (pictured)

Vitiello helped oversee the development of barrier prototypes in 2017 and said the administration could have added better security features if Democrats in Congress had given more funding.

'The bollards are not the most evolved design; they are the most evolved that we could pay for. We never said they would be an end-all, be-all,' he said.

Some of the damage happened in areas where construction crews have not completed installing electronic sensors, making those locations more vulnerable.

Officials says one of the main advantages of utilizing the bollard system - which reaches between 18 to 30 feet - is that damaged pieces can easily be fixed or replaced.

Unfortunately, smugglers in San Diego have seemed to tap into that line of thinking and are returning severed bollards to their original positions in hopes that it will go unnoticed.

Ideally, those cut bollards could be reused for smuggling.

Trump's (pictured) campaign promised that Mexico would pay for the border wall, but the nearly $10 billion project is being funded by taxpayer money

Agents say they now drive along the base of the wall and look for small defects, testing the structure by kicking the bollards with their boots.

If any damage is detected, welders are sent out to seal the damage before smugglers return.

However, smugglers have learned to cut through the welds because the metal is softer and the bollard has already been compromised.

They have also attempted to fool agents by using a a type of putty resembling the weld to make the bollard appear untouched.

Additionally, smuggling gangs have relied on makeshift ladders to breach the border wall, risking injury or death if they fall.

The tallest barriers are around the height of a three-story building.

In the past, President Trump (pictured) called his border wall design 'virtually impenetrable' and compared it to a 'Rolls-Royce'

Some of the smugglers reportedly use lightweight ladders made of metal rebar to detour the 'anti-climb panels' at the barrier's top.

These rebar ladders are ideal because the metal rods are cheap and slim enough to fit between the four-inch-wide gaps between bollards, allowing smugglers to use it for the secondary row of fencing.

Trump originally requested a concrete wall be set in place, but Homeland Security officials suggested using the bollard system because it allowed agents to see through to the other side.

CBP officials have repeatedly said that no single structure can block the border on its own.

Instead, they pushed for a 'border wall system' that combines surveillance technology, physical barrier and agents to intercept border-crossers.

Chris Harris, a retired Border Patrol agent in San Diego, said: 'There’s no one silver bullet, and we’ve done our best to try to explain that. You’re always going to have to have boots on the ground. That’s why there are armed police officers at Fort Knox.'

Agents say that smugglers have more difficulties cutting through newer versions of the barrier and that the open gap only allows one person, rather than a large group, to pass at a time.

The border wall (pictured) is still under construction with 76 miles completed and 450 scheduled to be finished by the end of next year

Now, as CBP is adding double-layer barriers in high breach areas, smugglers are targeting areas where the first and secondary walls are closest.

One crew will saw through a bollard while another crew will keep lookout for U.S. agents in case they need to escape back into Mexico.

Once the agents leave, they can resume again.

'What happens any time some barrier is thrown up in front of a business is they adapt, and that’s all they’re trying to do,' Joshua Holmes, a Border Patrol agent in San Diego said.

In 2017, the Trump administration commissioned a set of border wall prototypes that were tested for a variety of breaches, including reciprocating saws.

At the time, border agents determined the bollards could not be cut without using 'multiple power tools.'

KPBS obtained redacted copies of test results using the Freedom of Information Act and found that all the designs evaluated in 2017 were vulnerable to breaching.

The current version of the barrier is installing six-inch diameter square bollards with a three-sixteenths inch steel exterior and a core of 5,000 pound concrete that is paired with metal rebar rods.

So far, the Trump administration has completed 76 miles of the wall in places similar to San Diego where older versions have been replaced.

CBP says that 158 miles of barrier is currently under construction and 276 miles are in the 'preconstruction' phase.

450 miles of the barrier is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

The Washington Post reports that only 2 percent of the barrier planned for the barrier wall in Texas, where 166 miles of barrier is expected to go, has been completed.

That barrier is on private land and the federal government has yet to acquire it.