Trump shares photos touting ‘the start’ of border wall

President Trump tweeted Wednesday touting what he characterized as “the start” of his long proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen shared Trump’s tweet, clarifying, “This is just one of the wall projects @DHSgov will be constructing in the next year. This 30ft wall will help secure the area near Calexico, CA.”

Great briefing this afternoon on the start of our Southern Border WALL! pic.twitter.com/pmCNoxxlkH

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2018

This is just one of the wall projects @DHSgov will be constructing in the next year. This 30ft wall will help secure the area near Calexico, CA. https://t.co/eb68r1RlrL

— Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen (@SecNielsen) March 28, 2018

Officials have said the project that Trump tweeted about is not considered part of his proposed border wall and instead is part of a construction project for a 2-mile border wall in Calexico, Calif., that had already been prioritized since 2009.

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“We just wanted to get out in front of it and let everybody know that this is a local tactical infrastructure project that was planned for quite some time,” David Kim, assistant chief patrol agent for the Border Patrol’s El Centro sector, told the Desert Sun last month.

Trump got $1.6 billion in the recently passed omnibus spending package for border security, though some caveats were placed on how the money could be spent, with funding going toward fencing and levees.

The Border Patrol said the Calexico section of the border wall needed to be replaced. The project will cost roughly $18 million, according to the Los Angeles Times.  

Last year, the president waived a number of environmental laws to fast-track the building of the Calexico wall.

A number of environmental groups and the state of California sued, but a U.S. District Court judge ruled in February that the federal government had the right to disregard environmental laws to build sections of the border wall, including the 2-mile strip in Calexico.

Shortly after the ruling, Trump tweeted that he had decided that “sections of the Wall that California wants built NOW will not be built until the whole Wall is approved.”

I have decided that sections of the Wall that California wants built NOW will not be built until the whole Wall is approved. Big victory yesterday with ruling from the courts that allows us to proceed. OUR COUNTRY MUST HAVE BORDER SECURITY!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2018

In recent days, the president has reportedly privately said that funding for the border wall could come from the military if the wall is cited as a national security necessity.