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“With some 1900 miles of border there are still
miles & miles to go before it is fenced.”

Highly reviewed, thorough analysis by experts concluded that about 1.100 miles of new barrier were needed.

Five days after inauguration, on 25 Jan. 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order 13767, titled Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements, that directs a wall to be built, and a Comprehensive Plan be developed to achieve full operational control of the Southern border.

That Comprehensive Plan had to consider all the possible tradeoffs, to make the best use of the money available (aiming carefully, before firing). The result was a plan requiring five years, $25 billion, 1,100 miles of barrier to be built, thousands of new full time positions, and several technology programs.

That plan was thoroughly reviewed at several levels, including independent teams of auditors and analysts at both OMB within the Executive Branch, and CBO within the Legislative. It was kicked back several times due to questions raised, including every objection that the opposition could dream up. It was finally accepted by Congress in December of 2018.

Any barrier can be overcome. With ropes and ladders, men climb Mount Everest. But barriers can be designed that provide measurable effects that deter, delay or defeat infiltration by any given means (tunneling, climbing or breaching). So they engineered a system that would be effective according to the known variables they encounter - so-called “Border Calculus”.

The basic equation is that time available to intercept, is the difference between the time when the target is detected, and when it disappears into the country. In urban areas, illegal crossers can disappear in minutes, whereas in rural areas they can be tracked for days.

The appropriate mix of detection technology, delaying barrier and response roads varies greatly from one place to another. The few minutes of delay required for ladders and ropes becomes insignificant when response is fifty miles away - only detection and tracking really matter out there.

Along with the massive barrier building program, technology is rolling out to cover the rural areas. Technology is planned to monitor every mile of the border.

So far, President Trump has managed to dedicate $4,6 billion from Direct appropriations, as well as $6.7 billion from other sources in 2019 (Total $11.3 B) -but he is free to use the same extraordinary and emergency measures in 2020, as he did in 2019. If he re-purposes another $6.7 billion this year, that would bring the total funding to a whopping $18 billion.

That gets us to the low end of the cost estimates to completely secure the border. Since the spending has been painstakingly prioritized, the early dollars (and first few hundred miles of barrier) do the great of what needs to be done. Toward the end of the program, there is increasingly less functional effect from each additional dollar, or mile of barrier.

The bottom line, is that by the end of this year, a credibly complete border security solution will be funded and on contract, and the bulk of the functionally effective capability (most important few hundred miles) will be complete.

We still see the impact of Obama district court judges gumming up the works.

Continued replacement of Obama and Clinton ckt judges along with youth movement of Dubya/Papa Bush/Reagan judges is needed to protect immigration reforms and border wall progress.

Much of the old wall needs replacing that is not in the prioritized zones. How much of non-San Diego California border is really protected. Otay Mesa, Tecate, Jacumba, Calexico need backfill attention after South Texas and Yuma to Organ Pipe are sealed with the Trump wall.

Then high tech needs to marry tracking with law enforcement apprehension.