Texas plans to solicit donations from the public to cover the cost of finishing the border wall along the state’s 1,250-mile border with Mexico, the governor announced Tuesday.
“For everybody in the United States, everybody in the entire world that wants to help Texas build the border wall, there will be a place on there where they can contribute to Texas building the border wall,” Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said in an interview on the conservative podcast Ruthless.
The state will roll out a website through which anyone can donate to the project, likely to cost billions of dollars if it is in line with the projects that were undertaken during the Trump administration. Wall construction includes technology, paved roads, and lighting, and it averaged $20 million per mile under former President Donald Trump. The governor’s office told the Washington Examiner that he will share details on the project later this week, but it has not said how much money it hopes to bring in through the crowdfunding initiative or if taxpayers will be on the hook for any part of it.
ABBOTT FACES TWO MAJOR OBSTACLES IN QUEST TO FINISH BORDER WALL
Abbott declared last week that he would finish Trump’s border wall to prevent noncitizens and drug smugglers from illegally crossing from Mexico into Texas. The state has seen far more illegal crossings this year than Arizona, California, and New Mexico.
Since January, tens of thousands of people encountered by the Border Patrol have been released into the country instead of being returned to Mexico or other countries of origin. The releases have taken place despite tourists in Mexico and Canada not being permitted to enter the U.S. since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020.
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Former homeland security officials and border security experts expect Abbott to face two challenges in building the wall: legal obstacles and acquiring privately owned land.
