Texas officials suggested the federal government could pick up construction. However, during President Trump’s first term, his administration built about one-third of what the state was able to put up in the same amount of time.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/31570120

Four years after Gov. Greg Abbott announced Texas would be the first state to build its own border wall, lawmakers have quietly stopped funding the project, leaving only scattered segments covering a small fraction of the border.

That decision, made in the waning hours of this year’s legislative session, leaves the future of the state wall unclear. Just 8% of the 805 miles the state identified for construction is complete, which has cost taxpayers more than $3 billion to date. The Texas Tribune reported last year that the wall is full of gaps that migrants and smugglers can easily walk around and mostly concentrated on sprawling ranches in rural areas, where illegal border crossings are less likely to occur.

State leaders suggested the federal government could pick up the effort. However, during President Donald Trump’s first term, when wall building was his top priority, his administration completed just 21 miles in Texas — about a third of what the state was able to build over the past four years.

The Tribune reported last year that the state’s wall program would take around 30 years and more than $20 billion to complete.

  • _stranger_@lemmy.world
    39·
    16 hours ago

    For context, the texas-Mexico border is 1254 miles long. Even the projected 805 miles never made sense (not that any of it makes sense).

    It’s the most heavily crossed border in the world with dozens of controlled ports of entry and hundreds of millions of documented crossings a year.

    The scattered 60ish miles they completed isn’t even laughable, it’s entirely a non starter, and this debacle would easily sink a governor in almost any other state.