The Great Wall of China
US-Mexico border wall
Fences already run along stretches of the US-Mexico border
President Trump has called the situation at the southern border a "crisis" and insists a physical barrier is needed to stop criminals crossing into the US. His critics say he has manufactured the border emergency.
A Pentagon statement said acting US Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan had "authorised the commander of the US Army Corps of Engineers to begin planning and executing up to $1bn in support to the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol".
The statement cited a federal law that "gives the Department of Defence the authority to construct roads and fences and to install lighting to block drug-smuggling corridors across international boundaries of the United States in support of counter-narcotic activities of federal law enforcement agencies".
Trump wall
The Trump wall, commonly referred to as "the wall", was an expansion of the Mexico–United States barrier during the U.S. presidency of Donald Trump. Throughout his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump called for the construction of a border wall. He said that, if elected, he would "build the wall and make Mexico pay for it". The president of Mexico at the time, Enrique Peña Nieto, said that Mexico would not pay for the wall.
In January 2017, Trump signed Executive Order 13767, which formally directed the U.S. government to begin wall construction along the U.S.–Mexico border using existing federal funding. After a political struggle for funding, including an appropriations lapse resulting in a government shutdown for 35 days, and the declaration of a national emergency, construction started in 2019. The U.S. built new barriers along 455 miles, 49 miles of which previously had no barrier. Much of the remainder consists of 30-foot-tall steel fencing where previously there had been smaller fencing to deter automobiles. Additionally, a private organization called We Build the Wall constructed under five miles (8.0 km) of new wall on private property near El Paso, Texas, with Trump's encouragement.
On January 20, 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden terminated the national emergency and halted construction of the wall.
