It’s becoming a reality. The new administration has taken the first steps towards completing one of their most controversial campaign promises: building a new and superior border wall on the southern border of the United States.
How much will it cost to build the border wall from the US/Mexico border to Canada, cost of border wall per mile, border wall benefits? Here is a breakdown of what it could cost and how long it would take to build the biggest infrastructure project in U.S. history.
How much will it cost to build the border wall
The border wall is a controversial topic. It’s been a political hot potato for decades, as both Democrats and Republicans have advocated for it at different points in time.
The main reason behind this heated debate is that the wall would cost billions of dollars to build and maintain. But what exactly are the costs of building a border wall?
The Cost of Border Wall Per Mile
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), it would cost $18 billion to build the border wall. However, according to an analysis conducted by CNN’s Jim Acosta, the actual cost could be closer to $25 billion or more.
Acosta based his calculations on an estimate from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that said there were 1,300 miles of existing barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, which he then multiplied by $25 million per mile — or $38 billion total — for an approximate total cost.
Acosta also added that this figure did not include maintenance, labor or other costs associated with building and maintaining a physical barrier along the southern border, which could add millions more dollars onto that figure.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the physical barriers along the border need to be at least 18 feet high, with a top that cannot be scaled. The agency estimates that it will cost $5.7 million per mile for a concrete wall and $3.6 million per mile for a “fence.”
The current budget proposal is $2.7 billion, which is just enough money to build 74 miles of new wall/fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The project has been estimated to cost anywhere from $21 billion to $70 billion over 10 years, according to a report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s internal watchdog in February 2019. That report also estimated that it would take more than 30 years for DHS to complete construction on all 1,954 miles of the border where there are no existing walls or fences — if Congress approves funding for more construction in 2020 and 2021 as expected by CBP officials.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has estimated that the border wall between the United States and Mexico would cost $22 billion. However, according to an analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), the actual cost of building the wall could be closer to $25 billion.
The CIS report estimates that it would cost about $7 million per mile to build a fence along the southern border — which is less than half of what DHS estimated.
The report also compares different types of fencing, including reinforced steel slats, solid concrete walls and other barriers that are designed to stop illegal immigration. The authors found that while solid concrete walls are expensive, they may be more effective at deterring illegal border crossings than other types of fencing.
According to CIS: “The average cost per mile for a double-layer border fence was $2.8 million per mile in 2017 dollars.”
The cost of building the wall is another matter. Trump has said it will be paid for with a 20% tax on imports from Mexico, but that’s not likely to pass Congress. The wall could cost as much as $21.6 billion, according to an estimate by Bernstein Research, which is based on its length and cost per mile.
The estimated cost of building the wall has fluctuated wildly since Trump first proposed it during his campaign in 2016. At one point, he said it would cost $10 billion, but then he said that it would be closer to $12 billion. In February 2017, he said that he believed the wall would cost between $8 billion and $12 billion — and that Mexico would pay for it — but later walked back his earlier statement and insisted that Americans would pay for it themselves through a fee on remittances sent by immigrants living here illegally.
There are currently 654 miles of fencing along the southern border — 354 miles are pedestrian fencing and 300 miles are vehicle barriers — but only about 33 miles of new wall have been built so far under Trump’s presidency
The wall is a major point of contention in Congress and the 2020 presidential campaign. Democrats have vowed to block funding for the project, which Trump has described as a “man-made disaster.”
The cost of building the wall varies widely based on its length, height and other features. Democrats say it will cost $70 billion; Trump has said he’s been told it will cost $25 billion or less.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that a single-layer fence across the entire U.S.-Mexico border would cost between $22 billion and $25 billion — significantly more than what Trump had claimed.
But Trump has insisted that his wall will be built for much less than that, though he hasn’t offered an estimate. He has suggested that his administration could use pre-existing funds to start building the wall this year and then find more money later to finish it off.
About 650 miles of fencing already exists along parts of the border, including roughly 150 miles of pedestrian fencing and about 400 miles of vehicle barriers. The vehicle barriers are made up primarily of steel bollards (not concrete) and have been built over the past decade under President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama’s administrations at various points along the border
Cost of border wall per mile
The border wall has been a source of much controversy over the years and there is no clear consensus as to whether or not it should be built.
The Trump administration has recently started construction on eight prototypes along the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego and is looking at possible locations for future phases of the project.
In this article, we look at the cost per mile for each of these prototypes and discuss how construction costs might differ for future phases of the project.
Border Wall Prototypes
The Department of Homeland Security awarded eight contracts to companies to build different prototypes for President Trump’s proposed border wall between Mexico and the United States. The contracts were worth up to $300,000 apiece and required companies to deliver their completed prototypes within 30 days of being selected by DHS. The prototypes were supposed to be between 18 feet and 30 feet high and able to withstand attacks from sledgehammers, torches and pickaxes for at least four hours without causing significant damage or breaching. They also had to be able to stop vehicles traveling at least 50 mph for five minutes without failing or allowing anyone through them, NBC News reported.
The federal government has spent $3.6 billion to build sections of border wall in California, Arizona and New Mexico. The Department of Homeland Security has also awarded more than $2 billion in contracts to build the wall.
In 2019, President Trump requested $5.7 billion to fund construction of 234 miles of barriers along the southern border with Mexico.
The current administrations’ funding request is far less than what some previous presidents have sought for border security. In 2007, President George W. Bush requested $1.2 billion for just 40 miles of fencing in Texas and California: a cost of about $26 million per mile. It took more than 10 years for that project to be completed under President Barack Obama’s administration, due to environmental regulations and funding debates over immigration reform during his presidency.
What’s Included in the Cost?
The cost of building the wall along the US-Mexico border is estimated at $18 billion.
The Homeland Security Department has awarded four contracts worth a total of $100 million to build concrete prototypes for President Donald Trump’s proposed wall with Mexico.
The companies were selected from more than 200 proposals submitted earlier this year. The prototypes are expected to take about 30 days to complete and will be built on federally owned land in San Diego County. The prototypes will allow CBP officials to evaluate them for their impenetrability and resistance to tampering or damage, CBP said in a statement Friday.
The prototype walls will be 18-30 feet high, but only 10-12 feet tall at the top to allow Border Patrol agents to see over them, according to CBP officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the project.
President Donald Trump’s wall along the Mexican border will cost more than $20 billion, and it’s unclear how he plans to pay for it.
The president has pushed for money to build a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border since he began his presidential campaign in 2015. He promised a wall that would be at least 30 feet tall, 2 feet thick and extend 6 feet underground. The wall would stretch across much of the 2,000-mile border between the United States and Mexico, including areas that already have fencing or natural barriers such as rivers.
Trump said in January that he wanted a $5 billion down payment on construction of the wall, which could cost more than $12 billion to build over 20 years. He said he’d “confront” Democrats if they refused to fund the project, but he never came up with a plan to make them do so.
Here’s what we know so far about Trump’s plan for funding his signature campaign promise:
A wall along the U.S.-Mexico border was one of President Donald Trump’s most prominent campaign promises.
In November 2018, Trump declared a national emergency that allows him to unilaterally redirect federal funds toward building the wall.
Trump has repeatedly said Mexico will pay for the wall, but that’s not happening anytime soon. Congress has refused to approve funding for it, and Mexico has said it won’t pay for it either.
Here are some facts about the wall:
The U.S.-Mexico border spans 1,954 miles (3,145 kilometers). There are currently 654 miles (1,046 kilometers) of fencing along the border with Mexico — much of it in Texas — and another 300 miles (482 kilometers) are planned or under construction. The Trump administration wants to extend that to 970 miles (1,552 kilometers). The remaining 1,080 miles (1,735 kilometers) would require new construction.
A 30-foot-high concrete barrier would be built along about 55 miles (88 kilometers) of Texas’ Rio Grande Valley between Starr County and Falcon Lake in Hidalgo County; an additional 37 miles (60 kilometers) would consist of 18-foot bollard fencing similar to what exists elsewhere along