Trump wall
The Trump wall, commonly referred to as "The Wall", is an expansion of the Mexico–United States barrier that started during the U.S. presidency of Donald Trump and was a critical part of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign platform leading up to the year's election.[1] Throughout his campaign, Trump called for the construction of a border wall. He said that, if elected, he would "build the wall and make Mexico pay for it". Then–Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto rejected Trump's claim that Mexico would pay for the wall; all construction in fact relied exclusively on U.S. funding.[2][3][4]
In January 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 13767, which formally directed the U.S. government to begin wall construction along the U.S.–Mexico border using existing federal funding.[5] After a political struggle for funding, including an appropriations lapse resulting in a government shutdown for 35 days, and the declaration of a national emergency, construction started in 2018.
The U.S. built new barriers along 455 miles (732 km),[6][7][8] 49 miles (79 km) of which previously had no barrier.[7][8] Much of the remainder consists of 30-foot-tall (9.1 m) steel bollard wall where previously there had been fencing or vehicle barriers.[6] Additionally, a private organization called We Build the Wall constructed under five miles (8 km) of new wall[9] on private property near El Paso, Texas. By August 2020, the portions constructed by the organization were already in serious danger of collapsing due to erosion, and the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York unsealed an indictment charging four people, including former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon,[9][10][11][12] with a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors by illegally taking funds intended to finance construction for personal use.[13] An unpublished memo from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection leaked in March 2022 revealed that the "impenetrable" border wall had been breached more than 3,200 times from October 2018 to September 2021. Nonetheless, CBP officials say the bollard fencing remains a valuable border security tool when combined with surveillance technology and sufficient personnel.[14]
Initially, on January 20, 2021, newly inaugurated U.S. President Joe Biden terminated the national emergency and halted construction of the wall,[6][15][16] but the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security later hinted that the construction of the wall may continue under Biden's administration.[17][18] In April 2021, the Biden administration cancelled all border wall projects that were being paid for with funds diverted from U.S. Department of Defense accounts.[19] By October 2021, several border wall construction contracts had been cancelled and, in some cases, land that was acquired by the government from private property owners via eminent domain was returned to its owners.[20] On July 28, 2022, the Biden administration announced it would fill four wide gaps in Arizona near Yuma, an area with some of the busiest corridors for illegal crossings.[21]
Cost estimates
Early estimates
In 2013, a Bloomberg Government analysis estimated that it would cost up to $28 billion (~$36.1 billion in 2023) annually to seal the border.[45] While campaigning for the presidency in early 2016, Trump claimed it would be a one-time cost of only $8 billion,[46] while Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said $15 billion,[47] and the Trump administration's own early estimates ranged up to $25 billion.[3][48][49][50] The Department of Homeland Security's internal estimate in early 2017, shortly after Trump took office, was that his proposed border wall would cost $21.6 billion and take 3.5 years to build.[51]
Considerations
One-time costs include land acquisition and construction of new or replacement fence; ongoing costs include maintenance of existing fence and Border Patrol agents who guard the area.[52] Rough and remote terrain on many parts of the border, such as deserts and mountains, would make construction and maintenance of a wall expensive.[52] On federally protected wilderness areas and Native American reservations, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may have only limited construction authority, and a wall could cause environmental damage.[52]
Outcome
As of December 2020, the total funding given for new fencing was about $15 billion (~$17.4 billion in 2023), a third of which had been given by Congress while Trump had ordered the rest taken from the military budget. This funding was intended to build new fencing over 738 miles (1,188 km), at a cost of about $20 million per mile ($12.5 million per kilometer); this would cover a little more than half the approximately 1,300 mi (2,100 km) that had no fencing when Trump took office.[53][54]
A March 2021 review of the Trump work on the wall found only 47 miles (76 km) of new barriers where none had previously existed. While Trump had described the new wall as "virtually impenetrable", it was found that smugglers had repeatedly sawed through the wall with cheap power tools. Also, new dirt roads that had been used to access the wall construction served as new access roads for smugglers.[55]
Effectiveness
Different sources draw different conclusions about the actual or likely effectiveness of the wall. Research at Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University indicated that the wall, and border walls in general, are unlikely to be effective at reducing illegal immigration or movement of contraband.[56] By contrast, the American Economic Journal found that wall construction caused a 15–35 percent reduction in migration, varying with proximity to the barrier.[57]
Critics of Trump's plan note that expanding the wall would not stop the routine misuse of legal ports of entry by people smuggling contraband, overstaying travel visas, using fraudulent documents, or stowing away.[58] They also point out that in addition to the misuse of ports of entry, even a border-wide wall could be bypassed by tunneling (compare the borders of the Gaza Strip), climbing, or by using boats or aircraft.[52][56][59][60][61] Additionally, along some parts of the border, the existing rough terrain may be a greater deterrent than a wall.[52] Trump reportedly suggested fortifying the wall with a water-filled trench inhabited by snakes or alligators, and electric fencing topped with spikes that can pierce human flesh.[62][a]
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has frequently called for more physical barriers, citing their efficacy. "I started in the San Diego sector in 1992 and it didn't matter how many agents we lined up," said Chief Patrol Agent Rodney Scott. "We could not make a measurable impact on the flow [of undocumented immigrants] across the border. It wasn't until we installed barriers along the border that gave us the upper hand that we started to get control."[64] Carla Provost, the chief of U.S. border patrol, stated "We already have many miles, over 600 miles (970 km) of barrier along the border. I have been in locations where there was no barrier, and then I was there when we put it up. It certainly helps. It's not a be all end all. It's a part of a system. We need the technology, we need that infrastructure".[65]
Over the wall's first three years, Mexican smugglers sawed through the wall multiple times per day, usually with ordinary power tools, according to maintenance records from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The Washington Post reported "891 breaches during fiscal 2019, 906 during fiscal 2020 and 1,475 during fiscal 2021." The government patched these holes, spending approximately $800 per incident and often leaving visible evidence of the repair.[66] One early report of this damage was in November 2019. People were sawing through steel bollards in areas where sensors to detect such breaches had not yet been installed.[67] Though Trump claimed it was "very easily fixed" by "put[ting] the chunk back in",[68] border agents argued that smugglers tend to return to previously sawed wall because the bollards are weakened.[67]
In January 2020, a few wall panels under construction in Calexico, California, were blown over by strong Santa Ana winds before the poured concrete foundations cured. There was no other property damage or injuries as a result of the incident.[69][70]
In October 2020, the DHS published data indicating that the new border barrier has been effective at reducing the number of illegal border entries. The barrier also reduced ongoing manpower costs in at least one area in which it had been built.[71]
Impact
Economic
According to a 2020 study, the potential welfare benefits from constructing Trump's proposed border wall (if illegal immigration is reduced massively, with potential increases in the wages of local American low-skilled workers) are substantially smaller than the cost of constructing the wall.[200]