The Associated Press, citing a Senate Democratic aide, reported that as of January 15 the Trump administration had contracted out $10.8 billion in work, of which $6.1 billion had been spent. We’ve seen some ballpark estimates for unspent funds in recent press coverage, which don’t exactly coincide. It’s one of the main things the new administration is trying to find out. Of that $16.45 billion, the amount that remains unspent-or that could be clawed back by canceling construction contracts-remains unclear. Trump wrested the remaining two-thirds from the budgets of the Defense and Treasury Departments. (That would be $20.7 million per mile.) Congress specifically approved only about one third of that amount ($5.8 billion). The full amount of funding devoted to construction has totaled $16.45 billion between fiscal years 20. The vast majority of the 455 miles are in Arizona and New Mexico. In all, then, the Trump administration built about 242 miles of fencing in places where it had previously been possible to walk across the border. 55 miles are new or replacement secondary fencing.193 replaced existing vehicle barrier and.158 replaced existing, shorter pedestrian fencing.49 miles were built where no fencing existed before.Customs and Border Protection (CBP) updates we estimate that, of those 455 miles: The Trump administration managed to build 455 miles of wall along the border before January 20, leaving 703 of the U.S.-Mexico border’s 1,970 miles fenced off in some way. WOLA hopes that it will move quickly in that direction. And the Biden administration has made no commitments yet about taking down what the Trump administration built, particularly in areas where it is doing the most damage. Getting there will require some firm decision-making, and some interpretation or even rewriting of legislation. On February 1, the White House asked the Supreme Court to postpone arguments, scheduled for this month, on some of Trump’s transfers of Defense Department money for wall-building.Īll of this should mean the end of all construction of Trump’s border wall. During the 60-day pause, a multi-agency process will develop “a plan for the redirection of funds” for wall-building that were not spent. The dynamiting and earth-moving equipment are silent now, and will remain so for at least 60 days.ĭuring that period, the new administration will review contracts that its predecessor signed with construction companies-documents that had been neither public nor shared before-and figure out the “administrative and contractual consequences” of terminating them. President Biden ordered builders to stop work on Donald Trump’s border wall by January 27, which they eventually did. “It shall be the policy of my Administration that no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall.” “Building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution,” read a January 20 proclamation from just-inaugurated President Joe Biden.
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