DHS head: Border wall will ‘move forward’ this summer

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly says construction of President Trump’s promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border will “move forward” this summer.

“I think something in the neighborhood of 100 counties from across the nation have shown interest and are starting to put together their prototypes,” Kelly said Wednesday on Fox News’s “The First 100 Days.”

“But I think by late spring, early summer, we’ll have some prototypes and then we’ll be able to move forward into the summer. We’re going to get at it as quick as we can.”

{mosads}Kelly appeared alongside Attorney General Jeff Sessions as the pair conducted a two-day tour of America’s southern border with scheduled stops in El Paso and San Diego.

White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said Thursday that funding for the controversial border wall must appear in the upcoming bill to fund the government.

“We want wall funding,” he told The Associated Press. “We want [immigration] agents. Those are our priorities.”

A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday the Trump administration has moved into the government funding debate with “a heavy hand.”

“Not only are Democrats opposed to the wall, there is significant Republican opposition as well,” Matt House said in a statement.

Lawmakers are debating the details of funding the federal government before an April 28 deadline.