Will Racke on January 5, 2018
The Trump administration is seeking $18 billion to construct about 700 miles of border wall and fencing over the next decade, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
The funding would go towards adding to or replacing the existing 654 miles of border barrier, bringing the total to nearly 1,000 miles, or about about half of the entire southwest border.
Part of a broader $33 billion border security package, the wall funds include $9 billion over the first five years and $8.7 billion over the next five years, according to a Customs and Border Protection memo described to WSJ. The administration envisions using the funds to construct some sort of physical barrier — fencing or solid wall — across 970 miles of the border by 2027.
The CBP memo comes as the White House and Congress wrangle over provisions of a bill to provide legal status to the recipients of the now-canceled Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. President Donald Trump has insisted that border wall funding be included in any final DACA bill.
It is not clear how much of $18 billion in wall funding the White House will request as part of a DACA deal. The CBP memo does not address other immigration priorities, such as changes to the legal immigration system, and is only an outline of the administration’s goals for border security funding, reports the WSJ.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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