Washington Examiner by Travis J. Tritten September 08, 2018
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is considering a request from the Department of Homeland Security that he spend about $450 million to build part of President Trump’s border wall in Arizona.
But the construction itself could run headlong into time-consuming environmental regulations and the funding may require support from a Congress that is bitterly divided over Trump, the border and immigration.
The Pentagon provided no timeline for Mattis’ decision on Friday. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen sent the request last month after announcing in April that the agency was looking into ways the military could help complete the president’s promised wall.
“We're going to have our wall, and we're going to get it very strongly. The military's going to be building some of it,†Trump said at the time.
The request includes constructing a 30-foot barrier along nearly 32 miles of Arizona's Air Force’s Barry M. Goldwater bombing range near Yuma. The section, which now has pedestrian fencing, would also feature a patrol road and access gates, Lt. Col. Jamie Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said.
The planned barrier and gates “have proven successful along other parts of the southern border,†Davis said in a statement. Overall, the U.S.-Mexico border is nearly 2,000 miles long.
The Navy is doing advance planning and an initial environmental survey of the Air Force land, which includes looking for unexploded ordnance along the bombing range.
More:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/the-military-may-build-part-of-trumps-border-wall-but-it-wont-be-easy
