Free Republic

Four years after Gov. Greg Abbott announced Texas would be the first state to build its own border wall, lawmakers have quietly stopped funding the project, leaving only scattered segments covering a small fraction of the border. That decision, made in the waning hours of this year’s legislative session, leaves the future of the state wall unclear. Just 8% of the 805 miles the state identified for construction is complete, which has cost taxpayers more than $3 billion to date. The Texas Tribune reported last year that the wall is full of gaps that migrants and smugglers can easily walk...

The Texas Legislature cancelled the state’s program to build its own border wall as the legislative session came to a close, having spent more than $3 billion to build only about 65 miles of scattered segments. In December 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced the program at a press conference along the border, the first of its kind in the country, banging a mallet on one of the wall’s metal beams as he “declared the barrier to be impenetrable,” reported The Texas Tribune, but that bold declaration soon ran into challenges: “It’s heavy and it’s wide,” he said assuredly....

Cernovich @Cernovich Rand Paul’s shell game. He says he supports mass deportations, but don’t use the military! (Nov 2024.) Trump said OK. Let’s fully fund it using ICE. Now Rand says, it’s too much money! He will always come up with a fake reason to block deportations. Open borders Rand.

White House deputy speaker Stephen Miller lit into Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) on Sunday, hammering the Kentucky libertarian for what he called a “dishonest and disgraceful” stance on border security and funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Miller blasted Paul after the senator appeared on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo, where he attempted to justify his opposition to a border funding bill. ..... Snip...... “The United States has spent trillions subsidizing open borders and mass migration,” Miller posted on X. “But when we talk about providing ICE even a modest sum to repel the invasion, the Rand libertarians are...

The Washington Post has said that a massive drop in fentanyl seizures at the southern border is "mysterious" and that it is a "more complex" story than one would think after President Donald Trump has made it a point to crack down on border security as well as fentanyl trafficking into the US. The outlet suggested that the Trump administration's policies, such as threatening tariffs on China as well as Mexico to curb fentanyl, could have little to do with the drop in fentanyl, and claimed, "New data suggest a more complex story." This year, there has been a marked...

The Pentagon is sending 1,115 additional active-duty troops to deploy to the U.S.-Mexico border, bringing the number of service members there close to 10,000.The troops will mainly help with sustainment engineering, logistics, medical and construction, U.S. Northern Command said in a statement Thursday.The additional service members mark another increase in the military’s role in supporting President Trump’s aggressive immigration control agenda.There are already just shy of 8,000 active-duty troops at the border, with the added 1,115 bringing the total to nearly 10,000, a figure approved by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier this year.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says it has secured 60 convictions against migrants who set foot in the new National Defense Area in El Paso. The convictions came through guilty pleas entered in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. The 60-foot-wide NDA running from the Texas-New Mexico state line through El Paso County near Fort Hancock, Texas, is considered an extension of Fort Bliss. “Beginning in early May, additional criminal charges were filed against individuals who illegally entered or were found illegally in the United States and who had illegally entered the National Defense Area,” the U.S. Attorney’s...

A U.S. judge in New Mexico on Thursday dismissed trespassing charges against dozens of migrants caught in a new military zone on the U.S.-Mexico border, marking a setback for Trump administration efforts to raise penalties for illegal crossings. Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory Wormuth began filing the dismissals late on Wednesday, ruling migrants did not know they were entering the New Mexico military zone and therefore could not be charged, according to court documents. Assistant Federal Public Defender Amanda Skinner said Wormuth dismissed the charges against all migrants who made initial court appearances on Thursday. The migrants still face charges...

More border wall spots could pop up should Congress give President Donald Trump the money to build 700 additions miles, 900 miles of river barriers, and 630 miles of secondary walls — part of a bigger bill that includes the White House’s proposed tax breaks and spending cuts. The House committee in charge of drafting Trump’s border security bill is asking for about $69 billion, a substantial part of which ($46.5 billion), would go to border barriers... ...House Speaker Mike Johnson has said he wants to have a vote on the issue by Memorial Day.

DC_Draino @DC_Draino Ok here’s an idea to deport millions more illegals *and* provide due process: We currently have around 700 immigration judges Fun fact - they work for Trump’s executive branch, not SCOTUS and are appointed by AG Bondi They have a backlog of over 3.6 million cases, which equates to a 4.5 year backlog Why not provide billions more in funding, hire 5,000 new “immigration judges” on a temporary basis, and have them clear out 15+ million illegal aliens with due process by 2028? 8:05 AM · May 6, 2025

CBP officials are planning to construct approximately 24.7 miles of "new primary barrier" to close a gap just south of the Coronado National Forest in Cochise County... one of the few areas (in Arizona) without a border barrier.

The Trump administration is evaluating plans for the Pentagon to take control of a buffer zone along a sprawling stretch of the southern border (the Roosevelt Reservation - the first sixty feet from Mexico, in California, Arizona and New Mexico) and empower active-duty U.S. troops to temporarily hold migrants who cross into the United States illegally... ...In effect, the move would turn the buffer zone into an expansive satellite military installation.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection awarded the first (new) border wall contract of President Donald J. Trump’s second term to construct approximately seven miles of new border wall in Hidalgo County (Rio Grande Valley Sector). (several other previous contracts that had been halted by Biden, have already restarted construction) The contract was awarded to Granite Construction Co. for $70,285,846. According to a CBP release, the contract is funded by CBP’s 2021 fiscal year funds. Its purpose according to CBP is to “close critical openings in the border wall that were left incomplete due to cancelled contracts during the Biden Administration.”......

Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson 🚨BREAKING: Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announces 7 MORE MILES of border wall is being built starting today. 0:13 / 0:13 From Secretary Kristi Noem 10:04 AM · Mar 16, 2025

Vice President Vance said on Wednesday (5 March) he thinks President Trump is hoping to finish building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border by the end of his term in 2029. During a visit to Eagle Pass, Texas, a reporter asked Vance how he and the president would define “success” when it comes to the initiative and how much of the border needs to be “walled off” before the end of Trump’s administration. “I think the president’s hope is that by the end of the term we build the entire border wall,” the Vice President replied... ...The Vice President pointed...

A border wall upgrade construction project canceled by President Joe Biden is back underway in the Texas Rio Grande Valley.U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks announced that the Trump administration ordered the restart of a Biden-era-canceled border wall upgrade project along the Texas border with Mexico.Banks reported that the project will replace six-foot guard rails with 18-foot bollard panels. They are designed to “provide impedance and denial capabilities” to illegal aliens crossing the border from Mexico into Texas.” These panels were originally planned for installation during the prior Trump Administration, but the contracts were cancelled (sic) by the Biden Administration,”...

War hero and triple-amputee Brian Kolfage sits in prison for daring to build a Southern Border wall when Congress would not. The SDNY targeted and imprisoned him – the same SDNY that is withholding Epstein files from AG Bondi. Brian Kolfage may die in prison after being convicted on false charges pushed by the corrupt SDNY in a corrupt New York court overseen by corrupt Obama judge, Analisa Torres. Brian did nothing wrong. The judge prevented evidence that would exonerate him from being shared in the court and he was convicted by a biased New York jury that didn’t give...

At the end of Trump's first term, he pardoned Bannon for the exact same case, immediately afterwards, The State of NY charged Bannon, given how various Trump supporters went to prison for bogus charges, this was probably the best Bannon could hope for in the State of NY.

John Solomon @jsolomonReports Republican senators introduce legislation to help Trump complete border wall From justthenews.com 8:12 PM · Jan 27, 2025

The Biden Administration announced Friday that it will stop selling off materials slated to be used for building a border wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. Friday’s capitulation comes just weeks ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, who has vowed to make border wall construction a top priority after the project was stonewalled by Democrats and establishment Republicans during his first time. The ruling came after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sought to stop the lame duck administration’s attempts to complicate border wall construction during President Biden’s final weeks in office. The hearing was called upon Paxton’s request to...