As it turns out, barriers do, in fact, deter people from trying to smuggle things across them, such as Costco sized pallets of cocaine.

According to the Washington Examiner, border patrol agents were patrolling a part of our border that is a highly popular drug running area due to the fact that there is no physical barrier present. Agents stumbled upon a group of men loading packages into a truck, and upon being detected, loaded into the truck and sped off back across the border:

Customs and Border Protection said the suspects were seen loading “bundles of narcotics” into an off-road-style utility vehicle outside of Garciasville, a city in Texas up against the river. The suspects, apparently aware they had been seen, were able to “abruptly” drive the vehicle into the river and escape into Mexico, CBP said. CBP did not say how many suspects got away, only that there were “several,” and that the amount of cocaine totaled 705 lbs., with an estimated value of $22.5 million. “705 lbs. of cocaine, caltrops, evidence of sophisticated counter surveillance and a splashdown in one encounter are an obvious reminder of the need for more personnel, technology, and infrastructure in the Rio Grande Valley,” acting Chief Patrol Agent Raul Ortiz said in a statement. “Transnational Criminal Organizations continue to exploit areas along our western corridor that accounts for more than 90 percent of our traffic.”

After very intensive study, it turns out that drug runners tend to choose places where its easiest to smuggle their goods, such as places that have no physical barriers between them and their distribution points. Almost as if smugglers try to avoid places where there are barriers between them and their destination.

This is not the first time border patrol agents have noted that they need a barrier at the border. Officials of the National Border Patrol Council traveled to Washington to reaffirm that border walls do work, and the sooner the wall President Donald Trump is proposing is built the better.

Democrats are currently standing firm in their resistance to the wall being built, going so far as to refuse to meet with Trump to even discuss the wall.