It looks as though U.S. President Donald Trump will get his border wall, after all, if measures taken to fund such a project pan out.
Trump on Friday declared a national emergency to gain access to roughly $8 billion to fund a border wall.
The U.S. commander-in-chief made the announcement in the Rose Garden, but beforehand, a senior administration official explained that the money will come from several sources. It appears that $1.375 billion of the funds will originate from the Homeland Security appropriations bill
$600 million from the Treasury Department's drug forfeiture fund; $2.5 billion from the Department of Defense's drug interdiction program
$3.6 billion from the Department of Defense's military construction account
The $1.375 billion, part of a spending bill passed by Congress, is short of the $5.7 billion that Trump had asked for late last year but didn't get. A fight over the barrier money led to a record-long partial government shutdown that was resolved after 35 days. What's more, the $1.375 billion would specifically not allow construction of new wall prototypes proposed by Trump, and would instead put money toward nearly 90 kilometres of bollard fencing.
Moreover, the Pentagon announced earlier this month that it would send a deployment of about 3,750 troops to the U.S. border with Mexico. The additional troops will bring the total number of forces supporting the border mission to approximately 4,350, according to Defense Department estimates.
The troop deployment, which was approved by acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Jan. 11, will last for 90 days. The border mission includes mobile surveillance capability as well as the emplacement of approximately 240 kilometres of concertina wire between ports of entry.
