Trump’s 2018 budget requests $1.6 billion for border security

President Donald Trump is asking Congress for $44.1 billion for the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2018, including $1.6 billion to secure 74 miles along the U.S.-Mexico border. 

The requested $1.6 billion would cover: 

• 32 miles of new border wall construction along the Rio Grande Valley sector;

• 28 miles of new levee wall along the Rio Grande Valley sector; and,

• 14 miles of new border wall to replace existing secondary fence in the San Diego sector. 

Fiscal year 2018 runs from Oct. 1, 2017 to Sept. 30, 2018.

Homeland Security officials said on May 23 they are doing a sector-by-sector border analysis and getting feedback from Border Patrol to identify the areas of most need. 

DHS Secretary John Kelly told Congress on April 5 that it's "unlikely that we will build a wall or physical barrier from sea to shining sea," but that he's committed to putting it up in areas recommended by agents on the ground.

In some parts of the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, building a concrete wall may be problematic due to rough terrain conditions.

 "The president knows that I'm looking at every variation on the theme and I have no doubt when I go back to him and say, 'You know, boss, wall makes sense here, fencing -- high-tech fencing -- makes sense over here, technology makes sense over here,' I have no doubt that he will go tell me to do it," Kelly told a Senate committee in April.

It's up to Congress whether Trump will get the requested border security funding for fiscal year 2018. In the meantime, his promise to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it remains In the Works.