The Trump administration has awarded three new contracts to build about 65 miles of new border wall in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), one of the busiest Border Patrol sectors on the southwest frontier.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced Monday in a press release that the new sections will be built across Starr, Hidalgo, and Cameron Counties in Southern Texas.
Construction of these new additions to the existing border wall system is expected to begin in early 2020, according to the CBP press release, “pending availability of real estate.”
CBP has built and continues to build new border wall along the SW border. CBP has built 52 miles of new border wall system in AZ, CA, NM & TX—providing new capability by replacing ineffective infrastructure. pic.twitter.com/Xrbdzv8n0c
— CBP (@CBP) July 22, 2019
The construction project will be completed in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and will “include an 18-30 foot tall steel bollard wall, all-weather roads, lighting, enforcement cameras, and other related technology to create a complete enforcement zone,” the CBP press release states.
The federal agency said the three newly signed contracts with Southern Border Constructors and Gibraltar-Caddell Joint Venture will see a combined base cost of $385.7 million, and a combined total contract value, including options, of $812.6 million. That means each mile of these new border wall sections will cost from $5.9 million to $12.5 million.
CBP, together with @USACEHQ, has constructed more than 65 miles of new border wall. pic.twitter.com/l76eFxm3IS
— CBP (@CBP) September 13, 2019
CBP didn’t specify the funding source for the project, but it said the money will not be financed by the National Emergency Declaration that President Donald Trump announced in February to secure funds for additional border wall construction projects. Neither will it be drawn out of the $3.6 billion that Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper agreed to allocate from the Pentagon’s budget for the border wall in early September.
CBP said these projects will improve the RGV Sector’s ability to impede and deny illegal border crossings, as well as cross-border crimes including drug and human smuggling.
The RGV Sector, according to CPB, is the busiest sector on the border, accounting for approximately 40 percent of the illegal immigration arrests and ranking first among cocaine and marijuana seizures.
“The majority of its activity is occurring in areas where RGV has limited infrastructure, access and mobility, and technology,” the CBP says. “These projects will improve the RGV Sector’s ability to impede and deny illegal border crossings and the drug and human smuggling activities of transnational criminal organizations.”
