It was a first-term priority that met consistent pushback from Democrats at the time, but President Donald Trump is still pursuing his “build-the-wall” mantra in his second term.
And although it hasn’t been getting as much attention this time around, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott recently confirmed that the project continues to move forward at an impressive clip.
As Breitbart reported:
“We’ll have the entire system — to include a secondary barrier in places we need it, the water barrier in the Rio Grande River, and the [monitoring] technology that was paid for by OB3 [One Big Beautiful Bill Act] — done by July 2028,” he told Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies.
ADVERTISEMENTScott explained:
Trump 45 got a bunch of border wall money in place, OB3 added to that. The [Joe] Biden administration did everything they could to prevent the border wall from being built, but Congress never rescinded that money, so they could not legally shut off the contracts. They couldn’t legally officially stop it, they just slow-rolled it for four years and wasted millions, actually probably billions of dollars.
We turned that back on on January 20. We kicked that back into place and started leveraging that money. And then the Big Beautiful Bill provided $46.5 billion to finish building out the smart border wall system.
It’s not just a wall… It is a barrier. There’s a 30-foot-high bollard wall that everybody’s familiar with. They see it. But I call it a smart wall because it’s infused with technology that allows our agents to be spread out farther. It cues them when anybody’s even close to it. It also includes some camera systems. The primary border wall will — I’ve made a commitment to the president — be done by the end of 2027.
Everywhere the border patrol has plans to build that wall will be done in 2027.
There are a couple of gaps, but basically from San Diego all the way to the Gulf. The only places we’re not building a border wall is places where we’ve made a conscious decision that we don’t need it. Big Bend National Park, for example, super remote area with very high cliffs, you can’t drive through the area… I’m not into wasting taxpayers’ money.
The update drew some social media praise:
Build the wall! Keep building until it’s complete – and then continue improving and strengthening it.
— Dan Vargas (@Dan75473736) June 10, 2026
This is what I voted for! 🇺🇸💯
— Shay Mandrake (@MandrakeShay) June 10, 2026
The administration also received a win in court concerning one stretch of land in Texas that had been in dispute:
A proposal to bar the Trump administration from building a border wall in Big Bend, which is rarely traversed by migrants, died Wednesday in the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, after the GOP-controlled panel rejected the idea along party lines. https://t.co/BCJ7VCyLHy
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) June 10, 2026
Here’s more on Scott’s remarks via Newsmax:
“We’ll have the entire system to include a secondary barrier in places we need it — the water barrier and the Rio Grande River — and the technology,” Scott said.
The wall is intended to curb illegal immigration and narcotics trafficking from Mexico, which have declined, according to official indicators.
But the physical barrier won’t be enough to curb clandestine activities, Scott said. Tunnels, drones and other workarounds are already being used to spot patrols and move drugs.
“We’d see the drones flying along the Rio Grande River watching and videotaping where all our guys are. That is their business model, and drones definitely make it easier,” Scott said. “They’re also smuggling narcotics across with drones.”
And here’s a flashback to Scott’s comments on building the border wall during Trump’s first term:
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