Trump wall

President Donald Trump with a section of border wall near Yuma, Arizona, June 2020
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The Trump wall, commonly referred to as "The Wall", is an expansion of the Mexico–United States barrier that started during the U.S. first 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 to combat illegal immigration. He promised that Mexico would pay for the wall's construction, by a 20% tariff on Mexican goods,[2] a claim rejected by then-Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto; all construction relied exclusively on U.S. funding.[3][4][5]

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.[6] 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),[7][8][9] 49 miles (79 km) of which previously had no barrier.[8][9] Much of the remainder consists of 30-foot-tall (9.1 m) steel bollard wall where previously there had been fencing or vehicle barriers.[7] Additionally, a private organization called We Build the Wall constructed under five miles (8 km) of new wall[10] 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,[10][11][12][13] with a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors by illegally taking funds intended to finance construction for personal use.[14] An unpublished memo from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection leaked in March 2022 revealed that the wall had been breached more than 3,200 times from October 2018 to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.[15]

On January 20, 2021, newly inaugurated U.S. president Joe Biden terminated the national emergency and halted construction of the wall,[7][16][17] but the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security later hinted that the construction of the wall may continue under Biden's administration.[18][19] 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.[20] 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.[21] 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.[22]

  1. ^ Rodgers, Lucy; Bailey, Dominic (March 6, 2019). "Trump wall – all you need to know about US border in seven charts". BBC News. Archived from the original on May 15, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  2. ^ Krishnan, Raghu (January 27, 2017), "Donald Trump's policies seem to be inspired by Ayn Rand's 'Atlas Shrugged'", The Economic Times, archived from the original on May 13, 2019, retrieved June 13, 2017
  3. ^ "Trump orders wall to be built on Mexico border". BBC News. January 26, 2017. Archived from the original on May 27, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  4. ^ "How realistic is Donald Trump's Mexico wall?". BBC News. January 26, 2016. Archived from the original on September 1, 2016. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  5. ^ Beltrán del Río, Pascal (March 7, 2016). "Quien se mueve sí sale en la foto: EPN; el desempeño definirá a aspirantes en 2018, dice". Excelsior (in Spanish). Archived from the original on April 11, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  6. ^ Davis, Julie Hirschfeld (January 25, 2017). "Trump Orders Mexican Border Wall to Be Built and Is Expected to Block Syrian Refugees". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on January 26, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  7. ^ a b c Miroff, Nick; Hernández, Arelis R. (January 20, 2021). "Biden orders a 'pause' on border wall construction, bringing crews to halt". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on February 12, 2021. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  8. ^ a b Lardieri, Alexa (January 21, 2021). "DOD Pauses Border Wall Construction to Review Biden's Executive Order". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on April 22, 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  9. ^ a b Alvarez, Priscilla (January 21, 2021). "Defense Department slams brakes on border wall as it reviews Biden order". CNN. Archived from the original on April 17, 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  10. ^ a b Binion, Billy (August 21, 2020). "Wall Funding Scandal Exposes Steve Bannon's False Populism". Reason. Archived from the original on August 22, 2020. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  11. ^ "Why there's a Colorado P.O. Box listed on that viral border wall GoFundMe page". KUSA.com. December 21, 2018. Archived from the original on July 2, 2024. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  12. ^ "Castle Rock man charged alongside ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon in border wall fundraising scheme". The Colorado Sun. August 20, 2020. Archived from the original on January 18, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  13. ^ Hawkins, Erik (August 20, 2020). "Timothy Shea: Who Is Steve Bannon's Co-Defendant in Build the Wall Indictment?". Heavy.com. Archived from the original on January 19, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  14. ^ "Leaders Of 'We Build The Wall' Online Fundraising Campaign Charged With Defrauding Hundreds Of Thousands Of Donors". United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. August 20, 2020. Archived from the original on August 20, 2020. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  15. ^ Miroff, Nick (March 2, 2022). "Trump's border wall has been breached more than 3,000 times by smugglers, CBP records show". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 3, 2022. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  16. ^ Alvarez, Priscilla (January 20, 2021). "Biden starts fast on immigration by halting border wall and travel ban". CNN. Archived from the original on February 9, 2021. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
  17. ^ Beitsch, Rebecca (February 11, 2021). "Biden terminates Trump emergency order used to construct border wall". The Hill. Archived from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  18. ^ Kumar, Anita (April 15, 2021). "Biden promised to stop seizing border wall land. His DOJ is still doing it". Politico. Archived from the original on July 2, 2021. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  19. ^ Graziosi, Graig (April 6, 2021). "Construction of Trump's border wall may continue under Biden, administration admits". The Independent. Archived from the original on April 6, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  20. ^ Miroff, Nick (April 30, 2021). "Biden cancels border wall projects Trump paid for with diverted military funds". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on April 10, 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  21. ^ Alvarez, Priscilla (October 8, 2021). "Biden administration canceling more border wall contracts". CNN. Archived from the original on May 5, 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  22. ^ Snow, Anita (July 28, 2022). "US to fill border wall gaps at open area near Yuma, Arizona". Associated Press. Archived from the original on August 8, 2022. Retrieved August 4, 2022.