The Department of Homeland Security is looking to aid President Trump’s ambitions when it comes to border security.
Today, the DHS announced that it has issued a waiver that would help speed up border wall construction in California. According to the agency, “certain laws, regulations and other legal requirements” have been waived “to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers” at the U.S.-Mexico border near Calexico, California. The DHS says that most of the regulations had to deal with “environmental, natural resource and land management laws.”
One of the major accomplishments the Trump Administration has done behind the scenes has been in repealing massive amounts of government regulation. This is no different. And it will go a long way towards making sure our border is secure in an area that is very vulnerable.
The wall’s construction is still in the planning phase. The Trump Administration had chosen four companies to build concrete prototypes of the wall at the end of August, which the acting deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection called a “significant milestone.” In his words, “This is the first tangible result of the action planning that has gone on. This is the use of the resources we had available for this year.” Congress has set aside $20 million in funding for prototypes such as these.
Unfortunately, we still haven’t seen a single foot of the promised border built yet, mainly thanks to a lack of funding. To secure the funding needed to build the wall (which could be as large as $25 billion), President Trump will need to get it included in his 2018 budget. Earlier this year, the House passed legislation that would provide $1.6 billion in funding to begin work on the wall, but that’s just enough to break ground. Trump has since threatened a government shutdown if funding for his wall isn’t allowed this year. That’s a nice deal by the way: We either get funding for a border wall, or the government does absolutely nothing for a few weeks.
The border wall was the foundation of Trump’s campaign, and as such, it’s necessary that he delivers on it if he wants a second term.
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