A little over four years ago, Texas Gov Greg Abbott held a press conference to announce construction of a border wall. Now, a new report indicates that state lawmakers are “quietly” pulling funding for the state’s border wall project.
According to The Texas Tribune, State Sen. Joan Huffman (R17) confirmed that none of the $3.4 billion for ongoing border security efforts included in a state budget finalized this month will go towards the wall project. Back in 2021, it was debuted as Texas’ own version of President Donald Trump’s border wall project.
When it was first announced, Abbott asked for donations to support the wall building on the governor’s official website and raised more than $55 million. Per the Tribune, the crowd fund link was removed sometime after May 29.
“Funds will flow largely to the Department of Public Safety and Texas National Guard, the agencies tasked with apprehending migrants under Abbott’s Operation Lone Star,” said the Tribune of the state’s new budget. Abbott also kicked off Operation Lone Star – a deployment of the Texas National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety to the southern border – in 2021.
Just a few months ago, KRLD reported that Texas lawmakers received an update on border wall progress. At that time, Mike Novak, executive director of the Texas Facilities Commission, told lawmakers that approximately 60 miles of wall have been completed, with additional land secured for further construction. Officials reported that they were aiming to construct 100 miles of the wall by next year. Based on the Tribune’s report from last year that the wall program would take around 30 years and more than $20 billion to complete, the 805-mile project would still be far from finished.
Also, the Tribune noted that there have been issues with the project.
“The state keeps wall locations secret. But an investigation by the Tribune last year found that it is not a contiguous structure, but dozens of fragmented sections scattered across the six counties between Del Rio and Brownsville,” it said. Additionally, the program has been impacted by landowners who refused to let the state build on their property. Since most of the walls are in rural rather than urban areas, it has a limited ability to keep out illegal migrants.
While existing parts of the wall under construction are expected to be completed, no new segments are planned to go up. Likewise, the federal government has also appeared to pivot way from its border wall plan to focus on deporting illegal immigrants. Texas Facilities Commission Executive Director Mike Novak did not respond to an interview request, the Texas Tribune said.