Trump’s Wall Budget Stands at US$8 Billion

After declaring a national emergency in February, Donald Trump has been trying to reallocate funds to his wall building project, but not without pushback. Right now, the Trump wall budget stands at US$8.1 billion - if court cases go his way.

Trump had initially asked for US$5.7 billion to build 200 miles of border wall as part of the 2019 budget. In the end, short of US$1.4 billion was granted – enough for 55 miles. Using the national emergency, Trump reallocated US$2.5 billion from the Department of Defense personnel and missile budgets. After that was blocked by a judge, the Supreme Court freed up the funds in late July of 2019.

Another US$3.6 billion are supposed to be reallocated from the Department of Defense construction budget, that is in large parts used to construct military family housing. In September 2019, the Pentagon approved the repurposing of the money, effectively halting 127 military construction projects. The matter has since been an issue for the courts. On Thursday, the 5th Circuit Court decided in the president's favor to free up the funds. The case is still ongoing, so there has yet to be a final say on whether Trump can use the money.

Another US$600 billion will be taken out of the Treasury forfeiture fund, which is where money seized from criminal suspects is collected. According to initial calculations by the Trump administration, the total amount of the money would build 323 miles of border wall, even though calculations have changed multiple times since.

Trump initially proposed to build 1,000 miles of border wall during his 2016 campaign. There are currently 654 miles of border barriers in place at the U.S.-Mexico border and 124 miles of (new and replacement) barriers currently approved or under construction. The Southern U.S. border runs for 1.954 miles, with natural barriers also existing in some places.