TODDLER gets through $64 million White House upgraded fence: Secret Service reunites boy with parents after sneaking through opening to North Lawn
- A small child squeezed through the metal fencing around the White House
- The security fence is approx. 13 feet long and 5 1/2 inches between pickets
- The Secret Service picked up the toddler and returned it to the parents on Pennsylvania Ave.
A toddler earned the title of one of the White House’s smallest intruders on Tuesday after squeezing through the metal fencing on the north side of the executive mansion.
Officers from the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division, responsible for White House security, walked the North Lawn to retrieve the toddler and reunite him with his parents on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Access to the complex was briefly restricted while officers carried out the reunification. Officers briefly questioned the parents before allowing them to continue on their way.
A toddler earned the title of one of the White House’s smallest intruders on Tuesday after squeezing through the metal fencing on the north side of the executive mansion
It may be the first successful burglary at the complex since the White House fence was doubled in height to about 13 feet (3.96 meters) in recent years after a series of security breaches.
Although the new fence is taller, it has an extra inch of space between posts, for a total of 5½ inches (12.7 centimeters) between posts.
When construction began in 2019, the Secret Service said the upgrade was necessary for security and would include wider, stronger pickets.
Older children have sometimes become trapped in the iconic barrier, which has also been the scene of demonstrations, with protesters chaining themselves to the fence.
The Secret Service did not immediately comment on the incident.
Officials concluded that a taller fence was needed after a series of White House security breaches, including in September 2014, when a Texas man climbed the fence with a knife, sprinted across the North Lawn, and entered the White House.
That incident prompted security officials to install a second, shorter barrier – made of metal bike racks – several feet in front of the current fence.
Potential jumpers would essentially have separate fences to scale – the bike racks and the actual fence.
The added security has prevented tourists from taking photos of the historic building without seeing the fence in their frame.
In July 2015 an ‘anti-climb’ device consisting of sharp metal spikes was placed on top of the fence to make climbing more difficult.
Security officials also restricted public access to sidewalks and adjacent areas south of the White House in 2017, shortly after President Donald Trump took office, after a California man carrying Mace climbed the gate of the executive mansion and wandered the grounds for about 17 minutes before Secret Service agents discovered him.
Trump was in the White House at the time.
The new 14-foot White House fence under construction for the North Lawn of the White House in 2019. It was completed in 2021