Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Sunday that more border wall will be erected in Arizona.
Following President Donald Trump‘s return to the White House, the number of people crossing illegally has dropped dramatically. As of February, there have been just over 8,300 encounters with migrants at the southwest border since the start of the year. This follows three years that saw upwards of 150,000 attempting to cross monthly.
“As of today, we’re starting seven new miles of construction,” Noem said in a video from Arizona where the border wall ends. “We’re going to continue to make America safe again.”
Arizona’s border with Mexico has some 50 miles without a border wall. When President Joe Biden took office, he thwarted Trump’s efforts to build the wall at the southern border. All the unused parts of the wall, which were slated for Arizona, went to storage in the Southwest for $130,000 daily. It cost $47 million a year over the nearly first three years Biden was in office before he opted to sell the material.P
Prior to Biden leaving office, his administration began auctioning off portions of the border wall from Arizona last year. However, those buyers have since reached out to Trump’s border czar Tom Homan. According to Homan, they are willing to sell back the wall portions for exactly what they paid for them.
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The Department of Defense sent Marines with 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, to deploy concertina wire in addition to the border wall earlier this month. The U.S. Army deployed 1,000 troops to be stationed at the southern border while the Marines deployed 500. More are expected to deploy to the area. Before Trump took office, there were 2,500 active duty U.S. forces stationed at the border.
Congress passed a continuing resolution Friday that allotted $9.9 billion in funding for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This will be key to enforcing Trump’s mass deportation plan.
