House Appropriations Committee approves funding for border security

A House committee has given preliminary approval to about $1.6 billion for 28 miles of a new levee wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and 46 miles of fencing.

The money for border infrastructure construction includes:

• 28 miles of new levee wall in the Rio Grande Valley, at $498 million;

• 32 miles of new border fencing in the Rio Grande Valley, at $784 million; and,

• 14 miles of secondary fencing in San Diego, Calif., at $251 million

The House Appropriations Committee on July 18 voted 30-22 on a proposed bill to provide the Department of Homeland Security with $44.3 billion in discretionary funding for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2017, and ending Sept. 30, 2018.

The proposed funding is in addition to money appropriated in fiscal year 2017 for the replacement of 40 miles of primary fencing in sectors of California and Texas ($15 million for 2 miles in El Centro, Calif.; $102 million for 14 miles in San Diego, Calif.; and $175 million for 24 miles in El Paso, Texas).

The Associated Press reported that Republican leaders plan to attach funding for border security to a spending bill for the Defense Department and other agencies. The House is expected to consider that spending bill soon.

Details on the length and type of wall remain uncertain. In March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection began accepting proposals for the design and construction of wall prototypes — solid concrete and other types. In late June, DHS told the New York Times prototype constructions would begin this summer but did not specify when exactly.

At a June 21 rally in Iowa, Trump told supporters he had come up with the idea for a solar wall that would pay for itself.

Trump during the campaign said the wall would be "impenetrable." But on July 12, he said the wall could be "a steel wall with openings" because being able to see through to the other side was necessary.

"And I'll give you an example. As horrible as it sounds, when they throw the large sacks of drugs over, and if you have people on the other side of the wall, you don't see them, they hit you on the head with 60 pounds of stuff? It's over. As crazy as that sounds, you need transparency through that wall," Trump said.

Trump also said that the nearly 2,000-mile border only needed a wall for sections totalling 700 to 900 miles, because natural barriers and remote areas already deterred illegal crossings in those sectors.

Part of Trump's border wall promise is that Mexico will pay for the costs — but Mexico still rejects that idea, and Trump has not offered more details on how that will be achieved.

While the House Appropriations Committee approved the funding, those funds still need full congressional approval. DHS also plans to construct wall prototypes this summer, but there's a long way to go before Trump's "big, beautiful wall" is completed. We continue to rate Trump's border wall promise In the Works.