Trump Admin Paves The Way For Miles Of ‘Smart Wall’ Along The Southern Border

The Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection approved $4.5 billion for the construction of highly technical sections of the border wall.

CBP announced last week that 10 contracts were cleared in September for 230 miles for “barriers” and roughly 400 miles for “technology,” including a “Smart Wall,” which uses multiple elements to monitor and prevent people from crossing over the border illegally.

Some of the new technology includes “steel barriers, waterborne barriers, lights cameras,” and other tools to detect potential “illegal traffic,” according to CBP.

“For years, Washington talked about border security but failed to deliver. This President changed that,” CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said in a statement. “The Smart Wall means more miles of barriers, more technology, and more capability for our agents on the ground. This is how you take control of the border.”

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The 10 contracts were the first to be paid for through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Donald Trump signed in July. The bill included billions for border and immigration purposes, including hiring more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and $12 billion to pay back states for costs inflicted by the Biden-era border crisis.

The funding will go to projects along the border, spanning from California to Texas. Since Trump took office in January, several other projects have been cleared through contracts or waivers to continue wall construction, which was primarily halted during the Biden administration.

CBP’s webpage on the Smart Wall explains that the overall goal is to “gain operational control of the border” by combining a mix of measures, including a “secondary” wall and other technologies based on factors such as “geographic characteristics” and “procurement timelines.”

“The Smart Wall serves as a necessary tool to protect areas between ports of entry along the Rio Grande, where crossings already constitute improper entry,” Brandy Perez, a research assistant at the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, said.

“The Department of Homeland Security’s $4.5 billion investment in Smart Wall construction amplifies America’s inherent right as a sovereign nation to decide who legally belongs on U.S. soil and who does not,” Perez added.

“The previous Trump administration implemented barriers in regions across the Southwest border and witnessed a decline in illegal crossings by 87% in the Yuma sector and a 26% decrease in narcotics seizures in the Rio Grande sector, proving that walls deter foreign nationals who seek to break the laws of the United States and jeopardize public safety,” she continued.

As long-term developments at the border continue, the administration recently touted that fiscal year 2025 was the lowest for apprehensions at the southern border since 1970, and no releases of those crossing illegally in five months as of September, according to a CBP news release.

“Fiscal Year 2025 shows what happens when we enforce the law without compromise,” Scott stated at the time. “For too long, agents and officers were handcuffed by failed policies. Today they are empowered to do their jobs – and the result is the lowest apprehensions in more than five decades, and the most secure border in modern history.”