Trump gets $1bn for border wall

DONALD Trump has secured $1billion (£758million) from the Pentagon for his controversial border wall.

However, the money will pay for just 57 miles of 18ft fencing along sections of the Mexican border in Yuma, Arizona, and El Paso, Texas. In total, the border stretches nearly 2,000 miles.

The Department of Homeland Security asked for the barriers to be installed after Mr Trump declared a national emergency to bypass Congress and use military cash for the project.

Anxious to fulfil one of his key election pledges, the President has described the situation at the border as a ‘crisis’.

The Pentagon cited a US law that gives it the authority to build roads and fences to block drug-smuggling across the country’s international borders.

The Washington Post claims the Pentagon plans to take the money from military construction projects in Europe, which had been designed to deter Russian aggression.