Contrast that Texas slowness with the NM-AZ-CA with the help of the 60 ft border frontage right of way. 450 miles 0f the 800 miles total with completed wall system by Dec 31. Plus the 220 or so of existing suitable wall built by Bush.
All the action west of El Paso for physical wall.
It looks like they have finally cracked the code on land acquisition in Texas, and are just going to do it.
Enough of the leadership has been replaced, that they now seem to effective folks (who will get it done) in place.
Early this year, Jared Kushner was charged with overseeing/troubleshooting the Wall effort, and the President reportedly made the decision to break the logjam there. “Take the land” he reportedly ordered.
When the Federal Government insists, it can literally take private land the same day. The power is plenary. Only the amount of compensation needs to be adjudicated.
So even though they are still going to courts in Texas, the timeframes are much shorter then they have been in previous years, which were mainly negotiating with the willing, and kicking the can down the road slowly with the unwilling.
I think we will see construction in earnest in the Rio Grande Valley this Summer, and extensive land acquisition in Texas through the rest of this year.
The Administration seems to be on track to get all the money obligated on contracts before the end of the year, so that the Program can complete, even should Democrats take the White House next year.
They well know that land acquisition can be a showstopper (President Trump himself was famously involved in a major eminent domain lawsuit in Atlantic City decades ago). So I think it likely that they intend to clear the field of land acquisition issues before the end of the year, for the same reason of protecting the Program, in the event of a Democrat winning the Presidential election in December.
So far, the revealed plan for Texas is to effectively wall off South Texas, from about 50 miles North of Laredo, all the way down to Gulf of Mexico (the remaining much smaller gaps can be heavily monitored and policed). They will also upgrade the barrier for a few miles around the El Paso, Del Rio and Eagle Pass urban areas.
Construction in Texas has lagged, but the money and the will seems to be there, to get something significant built.
One significant fact about much of the planned new border barrier in South Texas, is that Congress has specifically authorized it. The 2019 and 2020 appropriations were almost entirely designated for South Texas (RGV and Laredo Sectors). That shows that there is some particular bi-partisan political strength behind that build. Although it might be hard politically for them to admit it publicly, the elites down there really want it for security and development.