The Border Wall Is Back

"Trump didn't build along this stretch of the border during his first term, but his crews are now working at a furious pace. They have already completed about five miles of 30-foot-tall barrier, painted jet black at the president's insistence because he thought it looked more intimidating and would be hotter to the touch."

"To the west was the San Rafael Valley, a rolling yellow grassland that is one of the last wild open spaces along the U.S.-Mexico border. Ringed by mountains, it has served as a setting for John Wayne Westerns and episodes of Little House on the Prairie."

"Trump spent about $11 billion to build 450 miles of border barrier in his first term, one of the most expensive federal-infrastructure projects in U.S. history. He faced a lot of pushback too. The federal government shut down in December 2018 for a then-record 35 days when Democrats refused to give Trump $5 billion for border-wall funding."

"But last summer, Trump got nearly 10 times that amount for the wall-$46.5 billion-when Republicans pushed through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The money has imbued the project with an aura of inevitability."

Construction crews are actively demolishing sections of Coronado National Memorial in Arizona to clear paths for President Trump's border wall along the U.S.-Mexico boundary. The project has completed approximately five miles of 30-foot-tall black barriers and plans to extend 20 more miles through the San Rafael Valley, a pristine grassland landscape previously featured in Western films. Trump's first-term wall construction cost $11 billion for 450 miles of barriers. His second-term initiative received $46.5 billion in funding through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, representing nearly ten times the amount previously requested. This substantial financial commitment has accelerated construction pace and created an appearance of project inevitability despite environmental and historical preservation concerns.

Read at The Atlantic