The Department of Homeland Security has given its U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency permission to ignore environmental and land regulations so it can speed up the process of improving the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

The Federal Register published on Wednesday said a waiver from these rules would take effect immediately so 11 gates can be built as quickly as possible in an area of southern Texas that has a high level of illegal crossings. In fiscal year 2017, U.S. Border Patrol apprehended 137,000 people in the region, almost half of the 310,000 taken into custody nationwide.