Border wall contractor once paid $3 million to settle federal fraud investigation

Throwing Money at the Wall: An Overview of the Trump Administration’s Border Wall Funding Requests

We’re now about 70 days into the Trump administration, and reality is beginning to set in about one of the new President’s signature campaign promises: a “big, beautiful wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border.

▻https://www.wola.org/analysis/throwing-money-wall-overview-trump-administrations-border-wall-funding-requests/#data

A Full Border Wall With Mexico? ‘Unlikely,’ Homeland Security Chief Says

WASHINGTON — John F. Kelly, the homeland security secretary, said Wednesday that it was doubtful that a wall along the full border with Mexico would ever be built, despite an oft-repeated campaign promise by President Trump.

▻https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/us/politics/john-kelly-homeland-security-border-wall-mexico.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

Dems winning fight over wall

Despite President Trump’s request for more than $1 billion to fund the Mexican border wall this year, GOP leaders are expected to exclude the money in the spending bill being prepared to keep the government open beyond April 28.

▻http://thehill.com/latino/327916-dems-winning-fight-over-wall

Poll: More than 6 in 10 Texans oppose border wall

Sixty-one percent of adult citizens living in Texas oppose President Trump’s proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a poll the nonprofit, nonpartisan Texas Lyceum released Tuesday.

▻http://thehill.com/homenews/news/329345-poll-over-6-in-10-texans-oppose-border-wall
#sondage

No Congress members along Mexico border support funding Trump’s wall

No member of Congress who represents districts on the U.S.-Mexico border support funding President Trump’s signature border wall, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

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L’administration Trump veut financer son mur, coûte que coûte

L’administration du président Donald Trump a réaffirmé dimanche que le financement de son mur à la frontière mexicaine est une condition à l’approbation du budget américain, quitte à risquer une paralysie du gouvernement en cas d’échec des négociations.

▻http://www.courrierinternational.com/depeche/ladministration-trump-veut-financer-son-mur-coute-que-coute.a

These border towns could be first to get Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ wall

Despite more than a year of campaign rhetoric about a “big, beautiful wall” spanning the entirety of the southern border, the Trump administration plans to start with a much less ambitious footprint focusing only on the most highly trafficked corridors, according to a Department of Homeland Security planning document.

▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/04/24/homeland-security-picked-these-high-priority-towns-to-get-trumps-wal

GOP drops US-Mexico wall demands as spending talks advance

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional negotiators on Tuesday inched toward a potential agreement on a catchall spending bill that would deny President Donald Trump’s request for immediate funding to construct a wall along the Mexico border. The emerging measure would increase the defense budget and eliminate the threat of a government shutdown on Trump’s 100th day in office this Saturday.

▻http://wtop.com/government/2017/04/govt-shutdown-health-bill-rescue-at-stake-in-congress

Le Congrès américain dope le budget Défense, pas un dollar pour le mur

Les négociateurs du Congrès américain se sont mis d’accord pour doper le budget de la Défense, comme le réclamait le président Donald Trump, mais ils n’ont pas accédé à sa demande de financer la construction d’un mur à la frontière mexicaine.

▻http://www.courrierinternational.com/depeche/le-congres-americain-dope-le-budget-defense-pas-un-dollar-pou

Why Trump’s wall won’t stretch ‘from sea to shining sea’

Over the past few weeks, Trump’s pledge to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border has run into political and logistical problems, raising questions about how much will be funded and built. An April 30 deal to fund the government through September excluded funds for Trump’s wall. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) anticipated in an interview to CNN that a funding plan without the wall will be challenged: “You are going to see a lot of conservatives against this plan this week.”

▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/100-days-wall

Omnibus Includes No Funding for Border Wall; But $1.1B for ‘Border Security Technologies’

(CNSNews.com) - The omnibus spending bill posted online early on May 1 gives the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) a total of $42.4 billion in discretionary funding for the remainder of fiscal year 2017, an increase of $1.45 billion above the fiscal year 2016 enacted level.

▻http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/omnibus-includes-no-funding-border-wall-11b-border-security-technologies

Trump budget seeks $1.6B for ’bricks and mortar’ for border wall

President Trump’s 2018 budget plan would set aside $1.6 billion on “bricks and mortar” for a border wall, CNN reported Tuesday — an amount that’s likely to fund only a small part of the wall Trump envisioned on the campaign trail.

▻http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/334688-trump-budget-plan-seeks-16-billion-for-border-wall

Mur à la frontière mexicaine : comment Trump a voulu convaincre Pena Nieto

Selon la transcription obtenue par le Washington Post (lien en anglais), le président américain tente de convaincre son homologue d’arrêter de critiquer publiquement le mur et d’affirmer que le Mexique ne le financerait pas. « Vous ne pouvez pas dire ça à la presse (…) Je dois obtenir que le Mexique paie le mur. Je le dois (…) J’en parle depuis deux ans », assène le président américain, avant d’expliquer à son interlocuteur qu’il sait comment construire à bon marché et que ce serait « un beau mur ».

▻http://www.rfi.fr/ameriques/20170803-mur-frontiere-mexique-trump-supplie-pena-nieto-entretien-washington-pos

L’article dans le Washington post :
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/you-cannot-say-that-to-the-press-trump-urged-mexican-president-to-end-his-public-defiance-on-border-wall-transcript-reveals/2017/08/03/0c2c0a4e-7610-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table

Being Moody: How a bill becomes a wall

Donald Trump has made building a wall along the border with Mexico a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. He’d have to go through Washington first.

▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOawRMJecuY

Trump Fences Himself In With Border Wall Spending Threat

WASHINGTON — President Trump handed Democrats a gift this week with his vow to shut down the government if he doesn’t soon get money for his border wall.

▻https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/us/politics/trump-wall-government-shutdown-congress.html?action=click&module=Top

Trump persiste sur le mur frontalier : Mexico paiera d’une manière ou d’une autre

Les États-Unis doivent construire un mur anti-immigrés à la frontière mexicaine et le Mexique paiera la facture d’une manière ou d’une autre, a réaffirmé dimanche Donald Trump avant un débat difficile au Congrès sur cette priorité du président américain.

▻http://www.courrierinternational.com/depeche/trump-persiste-sur-le-mur-frontalier-mexico-paiera-dune-manie

Trump reportedly backs off government shutdown threat over border wall funding

President Donald Trump said last month he would be willing to shut down the government if a funding bill did not include money for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

▻https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/01/trump-reportedly-changes-stance-on-shutt.html

Border wall contractor once paid $3 million to settle federal fraud investigation

One of the four companies picked by the Trump administration this week for its Mexico border wall prototype paid more than $3 million to settle a Justice Department criminal investigation into whether it defrauded the U.S. government through its participation in a federal “mentor-protégé” program to help disadvantaged small business contractors, records show.

The firm, #Caddell_Construction_Company Inc., a major commercial and industrial federal government construction contractor based in Montgomery, Alabama, did not admit wrongdoing in the 2012 case.

▻http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/01/trump-border-wall-fraud-investigation-caddell-construction-242270

#Caddell #fraude #corruption

États-Unis. Le mur de Trump n’est pas près d’être achevé

USA Today a déployé de gros moyens pour enquêter sur le projet d’un mur courant sur toute la frontière avec le Mexique. Verdict : les obstacles sont considérables, tant sur le plan politique que légal et logistique.

▻http://www.courrierinternational.com/article/etats-unis-le-mur-de-trump-nest-pas-pres-detre-acheve

Here Are the Makings of Trump’s Border Wall

This is the start of something.

Here are among the first photos of prototypes for President Donald Trump’s promised U.S.-Mexico border wall — actually two walls — that are being constructed near San Diego.

Four prototypes are being made of concrete for the wall the will face the U.S. And four others for the wall that faces Mexico will be made of other materials that allow that wall to be seen through. Six contractors were hired to construct the eight prototypes, which will range from 18-30 feet high.

https://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2017_39/2170231/170927-border-wall-jhc-1752_7a181ebb81a8b8d4a262a39e24b63786.nbcnews-fp-1200-800.jpg https://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2017_39/2155081/170914-border-wall-concept-ac-502p_ff9b5feba2363687e662ae4241fc6e07.nbcnews-ux-600-480.jpg

’The last stronghold’

In remote #Starr_County, federal agents say a wall will slow smuggling as landowners and nature tourists question the need for a border barrier.

▻http://specials.mystatesman.com/starr-county-border-wall

Trump Insists Border Wall Money Must Be Part of #DACA Deal

“The Democrats have been told, and fully understand, that there can be no DACA without the desperately needed WALL at the Southern Border and an END to the horrible Chain Migration & ridiculous Lottery System of Immigration,” Trump said in a Twitter message Friday from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

▻https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-29/trump-insists-border-wall-funding-must-be-part-of-any-daca-deal?cmpid=soc

How Donald Trump’s border wall fared in the $1.3 trillion spending bill he just signed

“We funded the initial down payment of $1.6 billion,” Trump said of border wall funding Friday. "We’re going to be starting work – literally – on Monday on not only some new wall ... but also fixing existing walls.”

▻https://www.texastribune.org/2018/03/23/donald-trump-border-wall-16-million-funding-restrictions-attached

Trump suggests the military might build the border wall

President Trump hinted in a tweet on Sunday that the military could be tasked with building a wall on the Mexican border after a $1.3 trillion spending bill failed to include the funds he sought to erect the structure.

“Because of the $700 & $716 Billion Dollars gotten to rebuild our Military, many jobs are created and our Military is again rich,” Trump wrote in a posting about the increase in military spending. “Building a great Border Wall, with drugs (poison) and enemy combatants pouring into our Country, is all about National Defense. Build WALL through M!”

▻https://nypost.com/2018/03/25/trump-suggests-the-military-might-build-the-border-wall

Proposal to use Pentagon funds for border wall is ill advised

The Fiscal Year 2018 Omnibus Appropriations bill includes some funding for so-called “border security” but not as much as the president wanted. At the start of negotiations for the omnibus, he requested $1.6 billion for 74 miles of new wall barriers plus $1.1 billion for border security technology.

▻http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/homeland-security/380807-proposal-to-use-pentagon-funds-for-border-wall-is-ill

Who Owns the Border?

Before Trump’s wall can be built, landowners need to agree. Not all of them are enthusiastic about it.

https://altaonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ATA020218border_img01.jpg

▻https://altaonline.com/who-owns-the-border

Government officials meet with Starr County leaders about border wall’s location

Starr County residents will soon find out how border wall construction will affect them.

That’s because notices for landowners in the western edge of the Rio Grande Valley will begin arriving in about three weeks, according to Roma Mayor Roberto Salinas.

Salinas said that information was conveyed to him and several officials from other cities in the county Monday during a meeting with U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Last week, CBP and Border Patrol officials confirmed that landowners in Hidalgo and Starr counties would “immediately” begin receiving notices regarding construction along the U.S.-Mexico border as it pertains to their land.

The meeting Monday with Starr County leaders was directly related to that announcement last week — in which CBP and U.S. Army Corp of Engineers officials said they would begin reaching out to landowners in the Valley to conduct “#Rights_of_Entry_for_Survey,” or (#ROE-S), in order to commence the real estate, environmental and design processes for the border infrastructure projects that were funded in CBP’s 2018 fiscal year plan.

“The #Rio_Grande_Valley sector is slated for 25 miles of new levee wall along the Rio Grande River and 8 to 12 miles of bollard wall in Starr County, #Texas — closing gaps along the border in the RGV sector is also part of the border wall project,” CBP announced following the omnibus bill’s passage at the end of March.

According to Salinas, landowners in the Starr County area will receive notification from the federal government within three weeks regarding the segment of wall and fencing in the county.

Salinas said he and other city officials were told during the meeting that the wall construction would begin east of the Fronton area and extend 5.5 miles into #Escobares, but uncertainty remains regarding the downtown area.

Border Patrol spokesman Daniel Tirado confirmed Monday’s meeting with Starr County leaders — stating that RGV Sector personnel met with city officials to provide “the most current information available regarding the proposed infrastructure construction in Starr County.”

“The topic of discussion was the approximately 8-12 miles of border barrier in Starr County and the preliminary barrier alignment proposals which are still pending survey and engineering approval,” Tirado said in an email. “It was also mentioned that potential impacted landowners in Starr County will soon receive a right of entry request letter from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to begin the necessary studies.”

The mayor also said that in addition to himself, he was joined by officials from Rio Grande City, Escobares and La Grulla.

▻http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/article_c87953b8-47d5-11e8-a2bd-073986b06d8e.html

Congress may snub Trump on wall, risking shutdown

Senate Republicans privately acknowledge that they’re unlikely to pass a funding bill that will satisfy the president.

▻https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/17/trump-border-wall-congress-funding-bill-snub-649563

Congress to push stop-gap funding bill with no border wall money

The U.S. Congress, aiming to avoid a partial government shutdown at the end of this week, began advancing legislation on Wednesday to temporarily fund several federal agencies through Feb. 8, but without money for a U.S.-Mexico border wall that President Donald Trump demanded.

“We’ll soon take up a simple measure that will continue government funding into February so that we can continue this vital (border security) debate after the new Congress has convened” in January, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

A Senate Democratic aide said the appropriations bill, which would keep the Department of Homeland Security and several other agencies operating on a temporary basis, was expected to pass the Senate either on Wednesday or Thursday.

The House of Representatives would then have to pass the bill and hope that Trump signs it into law, avoiding a shutdown because existing funding for the agencies will expire at midnight on Friday.

By postponing decisions on spending for the agencies that also includes the departments of Justice, Commerce, Interior and Agriculture, Democrats will be in a somewhat stronger bargaining position next year when they take majority control of the House.

Democrats and many Republicans have challenged the wisdom of giving Trump $5 billion this year, and ultimately a total of at least $24 billion, to build a wall that they argue would be less effective in securing the border than building on a mix of tools already in place.

In a last-ditch attempt to resolve the impasse this year, Trump and McConnell on Tuesday proposed giving Trump a $1 billion fund that he could use at his discretion for border security.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer labeled that a “slush fund” that would lack the votes to pass Congress.

On Wednesday, McConnell attacked Democrats for rejecting it, saying, “It seems like political spite for the president may be winning out over sensible policy.”

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The Ongoing Border-Wall Fight and the Limits of Public Attention

https://media.newyorker.com/photos/5c9a93cbcaf1186a4bcd799d/master/w_1626,c_limit/Lach-Border-Wall-Veto-Vote.jpg

What with crowing over the end of Robert Mueller’s investigation and vowing revenge on his enemies, President Trump seems to have forgotten all about the national emergency at the southern border that he declared just a few weeks ago. Much of the public has moved on, too. The rest of the government, though, continues to deal with the consequences of Trump’s decision. Earlier this month, the House and Senate voted—with what these days constitutes significant bipartisan support—to block Trump’s declaration, seeing it for what it was: a way for the President to run around Congress and grab billions of dollars for a border wall that lawmakers wouldn’t otherwise give him. Trump then countered Congress with a veto. (“VETO!” he tweeted, as if he were Michael Scott, the boss character on “The Office,” declaring bankruptcy.)

On Tuesday, the House voted on a measure to override Trump’s veto. Democrats hold a thirty-eight-seat majority in the House, and the entire caucus voted for the override, with fourteen Republicans joining them. But the measure fell short of the two-thirds majority it needed to pass. Despite more grumbling than usual, congressional Republicans have once again let Trump have his way. Separation of powers, the power of the purse—these things are not worth angering the base over, evidently. And why anger the base if you’ve got the judicial branch as a backstop? The fight over Trump’s national emergency will now move to the courts, where rulings, appeals, and more rulings await. Let judges sort it out.

It’s been three months since Trump shut down the government over border-wall funding, and two months since the shutdown ended. There’s been much else to occupy the public’s attention in the past few weeks: the end of the Mueller investigation, nascent Democratic Presidential campaigns, various congressional inquiries, March Madness. Will the border-wall fight end up like the travel-ban fight, Trump’s other signature effort to reimagine the nation’s borders? In the case of the travel ban, cycles of public outrage and Administration retrenchment gave way to a legal fight that ultimately resulted in the travel ban, if altered, being implemented. Last year, thirty-seven thousand people from eight countries—Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Somalia, and Yemen—were denied visas to the U.S. under the authority of the ban, yet public debate has all but evaporated. The slog of federal legal proceedings is not conducive to sustained public attention. Last month, more than a dozen states sued the Trump Administration over the emergency declaration. The courts are the venue where the border-wall fight is going. Public attention should follow, too.

▻https://www.newyorker.com/news/current/the-ongoing-border-wall-fight-and-the-limits-of-public-attention