The Department of Homeland Security says new segments of its smart-wall system are being built along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona and Texas — marking the latest funding allocation for new border wall.
DHS says it's awarded five new contracts and a total of $3.3 billion to contractors building the so-called smart wall. It's a secondary barrier that the agency says will include roads, detection technology, cameras, lighting and a physical wall made out of steel bollards.
The federal government has spent $8 billion on the secondary wall project so far — part of larger immigration and border funding baked into the GOP-crafted tax and spending package.
In Arizona, Fisher Sand and Gravel is getting roughly $1.4 billion to build 19 miles of new wall and secondary wall and 136 miles of detection technology.
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In a post, the State Department called Mexico’s progress on border security “unacceptable.” Meanwhile, Mexico’s president is calling on the United States to do more to stop the flow of firearms into her country. -
Arizona is considering pumping water from a desalination plant on the Gulf of California to boost its water supply, but would need buy-in from Mexico. -
Arizona U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton is one of the congressional representatives who introduced the bill after threats from President Donald Trump. -
The Trump administration says it’s deported more than 600,000 people in the first year of its aggressive deportation campaign. And, a whole lot of them have gone to Mexico. -
Nearly a year after launching the initiative to publicize arrests and drug busts in Mexican states near the border with the United States, authorities have also seized more than 7,000 firearms and 600 kilograms of fentanyl.
