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12 Construction Companies Have Been Selected To Work On Trump’s Border Wall

Construction workers are seen next to heavy machinery while working on new bollard wall in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, as seen from the Mexican side of the border in San Jeronimo, on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico April 23, 2018. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

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Jason Hopkins Immigration and politics reporter
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A dozen companies have been chosen by the U.S. military to work on $5 billion worth of construction projects for President Donald Trump’s border wall.

The Trump administration’s goal for a massive border wall between the U.S. and Mexico took a giant leap forward when the military selected 12 different companies to compete for up to $5 billion worth of horizontal construction projects. The Military Times first reported on the awards.

Selected U.S. companies are to work on various border projects spanning a five-year time period that ends in 2024. The contracts are not limited to just new border barriers, but include repairs, levee walls, work on patrol and access roads, access gates, drainage improvements and other alterations.

The Army Corps of Engineers, which is managing the projects for Customs and Border Protection, told the Military Times that the awards follow Trump’s January 2017 executive order to bolster the U.S.-Mexico border, and are not specifically funded from the president’s national emergency declaration in February, which secured nearly $4 billion in additional border wall funding.

News of the contracts come as the Department of Defense detailed exactly how much border wall will be built in the coming months.

U.S. soldiers walk next to the border fence between Mexico and the United States, as migrants are seen walking behind the fence, after crossing illegally into the U.S. to turn themselves in, in El Paso, Texas, U.S., in this picture taken from Ciudad Juarez

U.S. soldiers walk next to the border fence between Mexico and the United States, as migrants are seen walking behind the fence, after crossing illegally into the U.S. to turn themselves in, in El Paso, Texas, U.S., in this picture taken from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, April 3, 2019. The writing on the wall reads, “Help us Jesus Christ.” REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

“We now have on contract sufficient funds to build about 256 miles of barrier,” acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan stated during a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee on Wednesday. Shanahan said that current funding is sourced from Treasury forfeiture funds, diverted money from the Pentagon, and other border funds secured by the Department of Homeland Security. (RELATED: 13,000 People Are Waiting At Mexican Border To Claim Asylum)

“How you will see this materialize in the next six months is that about 63 additional new miles of wall will come online,” Shanahan, who’s just been tapped to officially lead the Defense Department, added during the hearing. This rate equates to about half a mile of border wall a day.

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