Trump Administration Seeks $18 Billion For Border Wall

WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security has requested $18 billion in funding for the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border, according to several reports.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the $18 billion would be used by the administration to construct 306 miles of new fencing and to reinforce more than 400 miles of the existing barrier between the U.S. and Mexico.

Trump made the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexican a campaign promise during the lead up to the 2016 presidential election, but since taking office he has had little success in securing funds for the construction of a wall.

Trump has previously pressured Democrats to grant funding for the wall in exchange for allowing undocumented immigrants who were protected by the Obama-era DACA policy to remain in the country. The DACA provision allowed undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children to remain in the country as adults.

A Democratic Senator blasted the plan on Saturday, saying the funding for the wall could result in a budget impasse and a government shutdown.

“President Trump has said he may need a good government shutdown to get his wall. With this demand, he seems to be heading in that direction,” Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said in a statement.

Durbin added that the Trump administration is undercutting a bipartisan effort to protect undocumented people who were covered by DACA by pushing for the $18 billion for the border wall and other immigration demands

Photo credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press