Q&A – How Long Will It Take the Trump Administration to Finish the Wall?
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
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Today’s Entry: Brian- appreciate what you do! I’m glad to hear that the Trump administration is taking up construction of the border wall again. Do you have any idea of how long it will take to finish? My concern is that delays will prevent the completion of the wall like what happened the first time.
Bottom Line: Your concern is valid as the ability for President Trump and his team to finish construction of the southern border wall is still dependent on at least one factor that is outside of his direct control...funding. With that said President Trump is currently in a much better position to finish the job that he started in his first administration. I’ll explain, but first here’s a quick refresh on what’s happened thus far...
Earlier this week, while at the southern border, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that the Trump administration was ready to resume southern border wall construction, construction that was stopped on day 1 of the Biden administration through an executive order. The first approved project is a 7-mile stretch in Arizona that was under construction at the time that the Biden administration ended construction of the wall.
The funds for the newly announced project came from the continuing resolution that President Trump signed into law over the weekend. In the CR, congress increased Homeland Security’s funding by $485 million over the next six months – which will help with ICE operations including arrests and deportations but also provided limited funds for restarting the construction of the southern border wall.
If the Trump administration is going to be successful in finishing of the southern border wall, it will be the result of funding that’s provided through the next congressional funding measure. The first budget under the Trump administration that congress is currently working on. President Trump has pushed for a “one-bill” approach that will fund his priorities including the southern border wall. Here’s a refresh on what was completed by the end of Trump’s first term as president:
- 458 miles of total constructed border wall
- 372 miles replaced and/or expanded previously existing border barriers
- 88 miles was newly expanded southern border protection
- 54% of our Southern border with Mexico containing some form of barrier – up from 34% pre-Trump
The number would have been significantly higher had it not been for a series of legal challenges against the construction/expansion of the wall, ultimately won by the Trump administration. The legal battles prevented the Trump administration from meaningfully expanding the border wall for more than half of his first term in office. With the legal battles having already been won, that strategy won’t have the same effect this time around. Simply having the funding to complete the wall, and when that funding will come, will be the most important piece of the puzzle. In terms of how much money is needed...
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the average cost of completing a mile of border wall is $6.5 million. According to my estimates, there are approximately 897 miles of southern border that lack either a natural barrier or a wall. With the newly approved 7-mile project in Arizona, that will leave about 890 miles to go. If those costs/estimates hold, an additional $5.8 billion is needed to complete the project.
When President Biden came into power the border wall was being built at an average of ten new miles per week. If the administration can resume wall building at the same pace they were keeping when Trump left office, it will mean that the border wall could be completed in under two years from the time funding from congress would allow for it to commence.
If that happens in the first half of this year, as is expected based on the current congressional timelines, the administration should be able to have the wall completed around the spring of 2027. But then again that’s the best-case scenario at this point. That potential timeline also leaves room for additional delays of up to a year and a half for the wall to be completed before President Trump’s second term comes to a close. The bottom line with Republicans currently in control of congress is that there is no good reason for it not to be completed this time around.