The administration of US President Donald Trump has proposed spending US$18 billion over 10 years to significantly extend the border wall with Mexico, providing one of its most detailed blueprints of how Trump hopes to carry out a signature campaign pledge.
The proposal by US Customs and Border Protection calls for 505km of additional barrier by September 2027, bringing total coverage to 1,552km, or nearly half the border, a US official with direct knowledge of the matter said.
It also calls for 651km of replacement or secondary fencing, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan has not been made public.
Photo: AP
Trump has promised “a big, beautiful wall” with Mexico as a centerpiece of his presidency, but offered few details of where it would be built, when and at what cost.
His administration asked for US$1.6 billion this year to build or replace 118km of fencing in Texas and California, and officials have said they also would seek US$1.6 billion next year.
The 10-year plan, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, resulted from discussions with US senators who asked the agency what it would take to secure the border, the official said.
It comes as the US administration intensifies negotiations in the US Congress on a package that might include granting legal status to about 800,000 people who were temporarily shielded from deportation under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program enacted by the administration of former US president Barack Obama.
Trump last year said that he was ending DACA, but gave Congress until March to deliver a legislative fix.
The plan on border security came in response to a request by US Senator Jeff Flake, his spokesman Jason Samuels said.
A US administration official confirmed that the document was prepared at the request of congressional negotiators and said that funding for the wall and other security measures must be part of any legislative package on immigration.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen on Tuesday said that the wall would be “first and foremost” in any package that includes new protections for DACA recipients.
The US administration wanted to close “loopholes” on issues that include handling asylum claims and local police working with immigration authorities, she added.
Nielsen called the US$3.2 billion requests for fencing during the Trump administration’s first two years a “down payment.”
“This is not going to get us the whole wall we need, but it’s a start,” she said.
Mexico has steadfastly rejected Trump’s demand that it pay for the wall and few doubt that US taxpayers would foot the bill if the wall is built.
The US border agency document calls for a total of US$33 billion in new border spending, including US$18 billion for the wall, US$5.7 billion for technology gear, US$1 billion for road construction and maintenance, and US$8.5 billion for 5,000 new border patrol agents, 2,500 border inspectors and other personnel, the official said.
The document does not specify where the extended wall should be built.
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