After More Than 2.5 Years, Trump Administration Still Can’t Say When Construction On Border Wall Will Start

It was one of Donald Trump’s chief campaign promises — he would build a wall stretching for 1,000 miles along the U.S.-Mexico border, and would make Mexico pay for it.

But more than two-and-a-half years into his tenure in the White House, Trump’s administration has yet to start any construction on new border wall, and the White House is unable to say when any could be starting. Axios had reached out to the Trump administration for information on when the president may start on his campaign promise, but could not get an answer. There are no public plans for construction of new border wall, either.

“More than 2 1/2 years after President Trump took office with an ardent promise to build a wall along the southern border, his administration cannot tell us when it will add its 1st mile of new wall to a border area that doesn’t have pre-existing barriers,” the report said.

The report added that more than 60 miles of existing barriers and fences have been updated with replacements, which the Department of Homeland Security has touted as “new” border wall. But there actually have not been any new sections of the border wall built, and Trump administration officials could not tell Axios when the first sections of new wall would be constructed.

Instead, the department seemed to deflect in a statement that did not address the still-unbuilt border wall.

“The Department is committed to confronting the humanitarian and security crisis at our border, stemming the flow of illegal and irregular migration, and protecting our rule of law and the American people from traffickers, child smugglers, and transnational criminal organizations exploiting our system to profit from human misery and suffering,” a DHS official told Axios.

As Trump’s time in offices stretches on and with no signs of planned construction of the border wall he repeatedly promised during the 2016 campaign, the president has come under increasing pressure and scrutiny. The Washington Examiner noted in a report last month that the Trump administration had not built a single mile of the 1,000-mile wall he had promised. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed to the newspaper that the only construction that has taken place under Trump’s tenure has been to replace old wall.

More than 2 1/2 years after Trump took office, his admin cannot tell Axios when it will add the 1st mile of new wall to a border area that doesn't have pre-existing barriers. https://t.co/3ktGNmxyQl

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 26, 2019

Even after securing funding meant to go toward new border walls, construction has yet to begin, the report said. It added that the Trump administration has installed an average of 1.7 miles of replacement border wall per month while he’s been in office.