Trump administration
Further
information: Executive Order 13767
President Donald Trump signing Executive Order 13767
Throughout
his 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump called
for the construction of a much larger and fortified wall, and claimed Mexico
will pay for its construction, estimated at $8 to $12 billion, while others
state there are enough uncertainties to drive up the cost between $15 to $25
billion.[27][28][29][30] In
January 2017, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said the country would
not pay for the wall.[31][27][32] On
January 25, 2017, the Trump administration signed a Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements
Executive Order, 13767 to commence extending the border wall.[33]
Trump had planned
to meet Nieto at the White House on January 27, 2017 to discuss topics
including border security, and announced the U.S. would impose a 20% tariff on
Mexican goods to effectively pay for the wall.[34] Peña
Nieto gave a national televised address confirming they would not pay, adding
"Mexico doesn't believe in walls", and cancelled the meeting.[35][36]
In March 2017, the
Trump administration submitted a budget amendment for fiscal year 2017 that
includes a $3 billion continuing budget for border security and immigration
enforcement. Trump's FY 2018 Budget Blueprint increases discretionary funds for the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) by $2.8 billion (to $44.1 billion).[7][37] The
DHS Secretary John F. Kelly told the Senate Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee during a hearing
the Budget Blueprint "includes $2.6 billion for high-priority border
security technology and tactical infrastructure, including funding to plan,
design and construct the border wall."[7]
A survey conducted
by the National Border Patrol Council found
that 89% of border patrol agents said a "wall system in strategic
locations is necessary to securing the border." 7% of agents disagreed.[38] However,
U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
said during a hearing that while Americans want a secure border, she has
"not met anyone that says the most effective way is to build a wall across
the entirety of our southern border. The only one who keeps talking about that
is President Trump."[39]
Trump proposed in a
White House meeting that the wall should be covered with solar panels, claiming
that this would generate revenue and improve its appearance.[40] On
June 21, 2017, Trump told a rally in Cedar Rapids Iowa that he is working on
ways "Mexico will have to pay much less money", saying that the wall
would be a "solar wall" that could "create energy and pay for
itself."[41] Trump
also touted a report he had seen on Fox News that
cited a study by the Center for Immigration Studies, in which
it claimed that a wall along the Mexican border could save taxpayers $64
billion by reducing crime and welfare costs for undocumented immigrants over
the next 10 years. Some dispute this, claiming the wall and maintenance would
cost more than predicted and that illegal immigrants would just find another
way into the nation.[42][43][44] In
August 2017, while speaking at a rally in Phoenix, Arizona,
Trump stated he will close down the U.S. government if necessary to force
Congress to pay for the wall.[45] As
of the end of 2017, Mexico has not entered into any agreement to pay for any
amount of the wall.[37] In
March, 2018, Congress appropriated $1.6 billion out of a $1.3 trillion spending
bill, which helped toward adding and repairing fence along the border.[46][47][48]
President Trump
visiting border wall prototypes in San Diego, March 2018
On September 12,
2017, the United States Department of Homeland
Security issued a notice Acting Secretary of Homeland
Security Elaine Duke would be waiving "certain laws,
regulations and other legal requirements" to begin construction of the new
wall near Calexico, California.[49] The
waiver allows the Department of Homeland Security to bypass the National Environmental Policy Act,
the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act,
the Clean Air Act, the National Historic Preservation Act,
the Migratory Bird Treaty Act,
the Migratory Bird Conservation Act, the Archaeological Resources
Protection Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Noise Control
Act, the Solid Waste Disposal Act, the Antiquities Act,
the Federal Land Policy and Management
Act, the Administrative Procedure Act,
the Native American
Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act.[50]
In September 2017,
the U.S. government announced the start of construction of eight prototype
barriers made from concrete and other materials.[51][52] On
June 3, 2018 the San Diego section of the US border wall construction began.[53] On
October 26, a two-mile stretch of steel bollards in Calexico, Californiawas commemorated as the
first section of Trump's wall.[54]
A Pine City, Minnesota manufacturing company
was awarded a bid to help build the "virtual wall" along the border
in 2018. It generates telescopic towers that roll-up to 80 feet in height. Along
parts of the border, this method has proved cheaper and more practical.[55]
