After $ 15 billion, Biden will halt project

WASHINGTON — Mexico never paid for any of it. It’s less than half finished. And on Jan. 20 or soon thereafter, construction will come to an abrupt halt on the “big beautiful wall” that President Trump promised to build along the U. S. Mexico border.

The project has cost $ 15 billion so far, most of it diverted from the military budget after Congress refused to provide full funding.

Presidentelect Joe Biden vowed during the campaign to kill the project, but leave in place whatever the Trump administration leaves behind.

At the moment, that’s about 400 miles worth of levee wall and 30foottall bollard fencing, though nearly all of that mileage already had some sort of barrier before Trump took office. Only 12 miles did not.

The rest is upgrade or replacement for shorter, less sturdy fencing, or a second layer of barrier meant to slow migrants and smugglers long enough for the Border Patrol to arrive.

“It was a referendum on the wall,” Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Laredo Democrat, said of the election.

Cuellar has fought on the Appropriations Committee to stymie Trump budget maneuvers that sapped billions from defense spending for his pet project.

Trump and his supporters viewed the wall both as an actual deterrent to smuggling and illegal border crossing, and a powerful symbol that uninvited migrants were not welcome and that the United States was tightening security. For immigrant advocates and for many Mexicans, it has been an affront.

Although Biden won’t push to dismantle Trump’s physical legacy, he will undo sharp curbs on refugee admissions and a host of other immigration policies put in place through executive order.

As vice president in the Obama era, Biden was in charge of working with Central America to find ways of reducing the poverty and crime that led to mass migrations north.

His border security plans focus on improved screening at ports of entry, where most illegal drugs enter the United States, along with beefing up investments in surveillance technology and working with Mexico and Central American countries.

At last count, just over 34% of the 1,954mile border was walled off. The project has required 556,000 tons of steel and 797,000 cubic yards of concrete at last count.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said that by year’s end, 450 miles will be completed.