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Trump makes progress on border wall with projects to add over 80 miles of new barriers

Two walls separate Mexico from the United States along the border, Jan. 28, 2025, in Tijuana, Mexico. (AP) Two walls separate Mexico from the United States along the border, Jan. 28, 2025, in Tijuana, Mexico. (AP)

Two walls separate Mexico from the United States along the border, Jan. 28, 2025, in Tijuana, Mexico. (AP)

Gabrielle Lazor
By Gabrielle Lazor June 25, 2025

A defining throughline in President Donald Trump's back-to-back-to-back political campaigns is his promise to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The White House said June 20 that the wall's completion hinges on advancing his "One Big Beautiful Bill," the president's sweeping tax-cut and spending legislation. 

Trump took a step toward fulfilling his promise Jan. 20, the day he took office. Declaring a national emergency, he directed the secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense to "take all appropriate action … to construct additional physical barriers along the southern border." 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection initiated new border barrier construction projects, while the DHS issued waivers that permit bypassing environmental law. These projects come as illegal immigration to the U.S. has generally been dropping since March 2024. 

"Since January 20, 2025, CBP has initiated more than 80 miles of new permanent border barrier projects — now in various stages of planning and construction — across the San Diego, Yuma, Tucson, El Paso, and Rio Grande Valley Sectors," U.S. Customs and Border Protection Spokesperson John B. Mennell said in an email to PolitiFact.

In collaboration with the Defense Department and Texas, CBP has also deployed approximately 145 miles of "temporary barriers" along the southwest border. These include coiled barbed wire called concertina wire, razor wire, chain link fencing and Normandy-style vehicle barricades, Mennell said. 

In early June, DHS issued three waivers to bypass environmental laws, expediting "approximately 36 miles of new border wall in Arizona and New Mexico," according to a CBP press release.

The move eliminated the need for the agency to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires federal agencies to assess a proposal's environmental impact and detail alternatives to plans "significantly affecting the environment."

CBP has awarded two contracts for border wall construction during Trump's second term.

In March, it allocated about $70.2 million to Granite Construction Co. to build about seven miles of new border wall in Hidalgo County, Texas. The stretch falls within the U.S. Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley Sector, which is an area with high levels of illegal entry and narcotics smuggling, according to CBP press release. 

On June 18, the CBP announced another contract: about $309 million to Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. to construct approximately 27 miles of new border wall in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. 

"The One Big Beautiful Bill is critical to fortify the President's success and make the progress permanent by: finishing the border wall, detaining and deporting at least one million illegal aliens every year, massively expanding our detention capacity, and hiring additional Border Patrol and (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents," said White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson in an email to PolitiFact.  

After passing the House, the bill heads to Senate lawmakers with Republicans hoping to send it to Trump's desk before July 4. 

In his first term, Trump built around 450 miles of border barriers along the southern U.S. border. Many of these were replacement barriers. During his 2016 campaign, the president promised to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it. We rated it a Promise Broken.

The recently initiated barrier construction efforts and environmental law waivers mark progress toward fulfilling Trump's promise to complete a border wall. We rate this promise In the Works.