The Department of Defense is preparing to build the first 57 miles of wall along the U.S.-Mexico border in response to President Donald Trump’s call to stop illegal border crossers.
The military has allocated up to $1 billion to build the first 57 miles of “pedestrian fencing” as part of Trump’s response to a “national emergency” at the border, where illegal aliens continue to thwart border control guards, Fox News reported Tuesday.
The planned 18-foot barricade is slated for the Yuma and El Paso borders with Mexico with an additional $3.6 in funding anticipated soon. (RELATED: Hillary Clinton: ‘There Is No National Emergency At Our Border’)
Workers carry a sign that reads ‘Finish the Wall’ … (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The construction is authorized under U.S. Code Section 284, which empowers the DoD to “construct roads and fences and to install lighting to block drug-smuggling corridors across international boundaries of the United States in support of counter-narcotic activities of Federal law enforcement agencies,” the statement read, according to Fox.
In proclaiming a national emergency, Trump faced considerable political obstacles. The measure was defeated by the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, and Republicans in the Senate also voted against Trump’s declaration to defeat the authorization. Trump vetoed that congressional rebuke.
House Minority Leader and California Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy says the president’s veto will stand. (RELATED: Report: California To Pull Troops To Protest ‘Manufactured’ Border Emergency)
U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks with reporters … REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
“The president will be fine in the House,” McCarthy told Fox News. “The veto will not be overridden.”
Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan explained in the DoD statement that the funding will be transferred to the Department of Homeland Security while the Army Corps of Engineers will be responsible for erecting the fencing.