While ICE continues to get all of the attention, progress is being made on construction of the border wall. It's something President Trump made a central promise of his first term but getting money to fund the project proved a challenge.
Trump spent about $11 billion to build 450 miles of border barrier in his first term, one of the most expensive federal-infrastructure projects in U.S. history. He faced a lot of pushback too. The federal government shut down in December 2018 for a then-record 35 days when Democrats refused to give Trump $5 billion for border-wall funding.
The Big Beautiful Bill changed that in the second term. Now there is construction happening at a pace of up to 3 miles per week.
The Trump administration is building hundreds of miles of border wall through iconic national parks, public lands and ecologically sensitive wilderness, empowered by provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill that provided $46.5 billion in funding and a 2005 law that waived dozens of environmental rules for border security projects...
The aggressive pace — three new miles of wall a week — has alarmed advocates and national parks staff who say the construction will destroy pristine country, threaten endangered species, and cut off access to sacred Indigenous and archaeological sites.
During Trump's first term, most of the wall that was built replaced existing barriers in high traffic areas. This time around, the plan is to build in a lot of places that didn't get any attention before.
Building a physical wall along the 1,954 miles of land that divides the United States and Mexico has long been a pillar of President Donald Trump’s border security agenda. But during his first term federal officials devoted most of their time and resources to replacing close to 500 miles of existing infrastructure, largely on federal land that attracted a large number of border crossers. In all, only about 80 miles of new barrier were installed...
President Joe Biden said he would not build “another foot” of wall, even as illegal border crossings surged to record levels. But his administration said it was legally obligated to use the appropriated funds to finish work on 20 miles of wall in South Texas, fill in gaps elsewhere and repair concrete levees supporting the slats.
Now, despite illegal crossings dropping to historic lows, DHS and the Defense Department plan to construct more than 1,350 miles of new border wall in the Southwest, according to a Post analysis of CBP data. In addition to more than 750 miles of primary wall and roughly 600 miles of secondary wall, CBP is planning for more than 500 miles of water barriers, such as buoys, the data shows. Cameras, lights and other surveillance technology would complement the physical barriers in many places, with some areas without walls covered by sensors.
CBP has been posting videos of the contruction.
Smart Border Wall is an investment! #Wallswork
— CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott (@CBPCommissioner) March 19, 2026
Smart Wall = fewer illegal entries = increased safety and tax savings for every American!
Even during this unnecessary shutdown, wall construction infused with smart technology continues. Now if Congress would just approve our… pic.twitter.com/tHvt6H9HJf
Here's another one:
Here's some Border Wall construction ASMR for your viewing and listening pleasure.
— CBP (@CBP) March 11, 2026
Americans can have the assurance that our southern border is being secured for generations to come. pic.twitter.com/VxvQGLrNam
Of course there is still opposition to the wall, some of it coming from Republicans.
The bipartisan pushback in Texas may be prompting Trump officials to change their plans when it comes to Big Bend National Park.
At least 132 local businesses and organizations sent a letter to Congress, asking the appropriations committee to stop the use of federal funds for a project that would cause irreversible damage to the “integrity of our natural heritage.”
Texas oilman Rush Warren, a Republican, said he understands the need for a wall elsewhere but not in the national park: “It seems to me that whatever we’re doing is working. So why do we need a wall here?”...
In early March, the CBP released a new map that seemed to indicate a physical barrier would no longer be constructed in the national park. Instead, only “detection technology” would be used.
The irony here is that it's Trump's success at clamping down on immigration that has made the case for this kind of opposition. The number of border encounters in the southwest flatlined last February, days after Trump took office, and hasn't risen since. We're going from 2.1 million encounters in FY 2024 to something like 120,000 in FY 2026. That's fewer encounters in an entire year than we had in any single month back in FY 2023.
Trump has effectively solved the problem even without the wall. As he famously said, all we needed was a new president.
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