$43M deal set for 3 miles of wall on border

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – About three miles of border wall in Starr County, Texas, is expected to begin construction in August under a $42.8 million contract announced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The project will take place on federally owned land and will be spearheaded by Kiewit Infrastructure West.

The barrier will be constructed with vertical steel bollards ranging from about 18 to 30 feet tall, the agency said.

It will not be a concrete wall, often described by President Donald Trump dating to his 2016 campaign.

The contract will be paid from money appropriated during the fiscal 2019 budget cycle, but it is not part of the national emergency declared by Trump in response to the surge of migrants arriving at the nation’s southern border.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam of California issued an order blocking the president from using $1 billion from the Defense Department budget for wall construction.

The order did not prevent the use of other federal funding sources for the wall project.