Expansion of the Trump border wall in Arizona has begun.
Construction of an additional seven miles of border wall started on Sunday. Arizona shares 370 miles of border with Mexico.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the expansion in a video statement on X.
“Right at this spot, you can see where the border wall ends,” Noem said.
“As of today, we’re starting seven new miles of construction. We’re going to continue to make America safe again.”
During his first term, President Trump constructed 450 miles of new and replacement wall along the southern border. Construction was halted during Joe Biden’s presidency, and leftover border materials were auctioned off at rock-bottom prices, until a legal challenge last year brought sales to a halt.
In an executive order on the first day of his new term, Trump directed the defense and homeland security secretaries to “construct temporary and permanent physical barriers to ensure complete operational control of the southern border of the United States.”
During a recent visit to Eagle Pass, Texas, Vice President JD Vance said the President’s aim is to have a full border wall separating the US from Mexico by the end of his second term.
New border-wall contracts are now being awarded.
Apprehensions of illegals at the US southern border are now at their lowest level ever, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Average apprehensions were at just 330 a day during February, Trump’s first full month in office.
In a statement issued by CBP, they said these are “the lowest nationwide apprehensions in” the organization’s history.
Border Patrol agents apprehended 8,347 illegal aliens at the southern border in February, down 94% from 140,641 apprehensions in February 2024.
Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “have sent a clear message: if you cross the border illegally, you will be deported without an opportunity to try another day, or in a few hours,” the agency said in its statement.
Pete Flores, acting Border Patrol commissioner, said the agency’s officials continue to “aggressively implement the president’s executive orders” and, as a result, have “achieved historic lows in border apprehensions.”
The Department of Homeland Security launched an advertising campaign in February warning illegals to leave the country voluntarily or be deported, with no chance of return.
In conjunction with this campaign, CBP launched a new CBP Home app, which allows illegal aliens to notify the US government about their intention to leave. This ensures an “orderly process for aliens to communicate their departure plans,” the agency said.