How much of that is new rather than repair/upgrade replacement?
“How much of that is new rather than repair/upgrade replacement?”
It really depends on how you want to define terms, so it can get into quibbling.
For example, in San Diego there was mostly a double barrier, but the secondary barrier had a 1 1/2 mile gap through steep and heavily vegetated terrain. They cleared the vegetation, graded and installed an all weather road through there, put in stadium lighting, cameras and alarms, and filled the former gap in the secondary barrier with thirty foot high bollards. Does that 1 1/2 miles of secondary barrier “count” as “new”, because there was no secondary barrier before?
All of that (actually new) security infrastructure was in addition to what was there before (a single run of landing mat fence, also since replaced with 18-30 foot bollards), but some would say it does not count as “new”, because there was something there before - even if it was effectively an open door, that is now powerfully shut.
Additionally, some of the bollards that have been installed in Arizona and New Mexico “replaced” a simple triple strand barbed wire cattle fence with 18-30 foot bollards, all-weather road, embedded alarm systems and 24x7 camera monitoring; but are equally dismissed by some as (implicitly) insignificant “replacement”.
Most places where illegal traffic is heavy, have long had some kind of barrier, however ineffective. The Trump Administration priority list was developed on the basis of what would stop the most traffic, so it prioritizes the border cities and the Rio Grande Valley, where traffic is heaviest (over 80% of the total volume).
The border cities have long had some kind of border barrier/demarcation line, but for several reasons, the Rio Grande Valley did not (the shifting river itself marked the border, and construction was challenged by frequent flooding, treaty obligations and widespread private ownership of the land). Along the Rio Grande is where the overwhelming bulk of so-called “new” miles (that have any real significance to controlling illegal activity) will be built.
So far only about two totally “new” miles have been built in the Rio Grande Valley, where no man-made barrier of any kind previously existed, most of that just South of Falcon Lake, where the river bends, near Fronton (but construction only began in the Rio Grande Valley about three months ago).
A second project in the Rio Grande Valley near McAllen (Donna) is also now under construction, but that is in a flood area that requires the barrier to also serve as a massive FEMA Hurricane-certified flood control levee (a major upgrade for the community), so that construction (although already fully funded and contracted) will proceed slowly.
Altogether, over 100 totally “new” miles have been funded and contracted in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (Falcon Lake to Brownsville), but actual construction is just getting ready to start on most of the segments, due to delays in land acquisition, from about 400 private property owners. By this Summer, the Rio Grande Valley is on track to become a bee hive of construction activity, with many crews working concurrently, almost entirely on “new barrier. Generally, the lower elevations East of McAllen is mostly slow to build Levee Wall System, and along the higher banks West of McAllen, it is mainly the faster to build Wall System, with the common trench foundation.
Another 52 mile stretch of “new” miles has already been funded running North from the Laredo Colombia Port of Entry, and FY 2020 appropriations will fund most if not all of the miles from that Port of Entry, South to Falcon Lake. Those contracts should be awarded this year.
So something like 250 miles along the Rio Grande Valley (where no man-made barrier of any kind previously existed) has been specifically funded, and is somewhere in the pipeline.
Additionally, the White House has confirmed that they intend to divert more than $7 billion from the Military budget this year to build additional border barrier. The specific segments have not been publicly announced yet, but I believe it likely that most of the remaining border along the Rio Grande up to Lake Amistad/Box Canyon (through Del Rio and Eagle Pass) will likely be funded from this money - about 150 more “new” miles.
The Pentagon has received a formal request from Homeland Security to fund 270 specific miles of segments out of the new FY 2020 Military budget (another request might follow later). The legal review in the Pentagon for this new 270 mile request was conducted up through last Friday (31 Jan). Presumably, that action is now back in the office of the Secretary of Defense, preparing the formal response, which will release funding for contracting. When that is done (likely in the coming days or weeks), we will likely see the specific segments’ details, and find out how many will be “new”.
When the SecDef signs off to release the funding for the specif segments authorized, the US Border Patrol Chief will include those additional miles into the totals on the weekly Border Wall System update graphic (As they say, A vision without funding, is just an hallucination). Based on the amount of money the Administration has planned to divert, the total of the Trump Wall System Program will be 885 miles this year (although completing all of that construction on the contracts will likely extend through 2021, and into 2022).
Likely a third or more of the total miles in the Program will be “new” miles. Since contracting and construction follows a carefully justified priority list, based on the operational requirements to impede illegal traffic, the overwhelming bulk of the earlier miles will be where there already some kind of barrier (where there has always been a big problem).
As we build further down the priority list, we will increasingly be addressing the more marginal, or potential alternate smuggling routes, where limited resources were never previously available to build any kind of barrier whatsoever. So the further down the priority list, the higher the proportion of “new” miles.