Texas stops providing new funding for border wall construction
[June 18, 2025]
By NADIA LATHAN
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas has stopped putting new money toward building
a U.S.-Mexico border wall, shifting course after installing only a
fraction of the hundreds of miles of potential barrier that Republican
Gov. Greg Abbott set out to construct four years ago.
State lawmakers this month approved a new Texas budget that does not
include continued funding for the wall, which had been a
multibillion-dollar priority for Abbott as part of a sprawling
immigration crackdown. He even took the unusual step of soliciting
private donations for construction, saying in 2021 that many Americans
wanted to help.
On Tuesday, Abbott's office said President Donald Trump's aggressive
efforts to curb immigration allowed the state to adjust.
The halt in funding was first reported by The Texas Tribune.
“Thanks to President Trump’s bold leadership, the federal government is
finally fulfilling its obligation to secure the southern border and
deport criminal illegal immigrants," Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris
said. “Because of these renewed federal assets in Texas, our state can
now adjust aspects of state-funded border security efforts.”
The state has completed 65 miles (104 kilometers) of border wall since
construction began. The Texas border with Mexico is roughly 1,200 miles
(1,931 kilometers).
The wall has gone up at a slow pace as the state has navigated the
drawn-out process of buying private land and confronting local
opposition in some places. Abbott announced plans for the wall at a time
when large numbers of migrants were showing up at the border, saying in
2021 that he believed a combination of state-owned land and volunteered
private property would "yield hundreds of miles to build a border wall.'
The number of migrant crossings has fallen dramatically this year.
“There was no need for it in the first place,” said Scott Nicol, a board
member for Friends of the Wildlife Corridor, a habitat preservation
group in the Rio Grande Valley. He has criticized the wall as
ineffective.
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A border wall section stands on July 14, 2021, near La Grulla,
Texas, in Starr County. (Delcia Lopez/The Monitor via AP, File)
"The only thing that’s changed is the political dynamic,” he said.
The new budget approved by Texas lawmakers allocates about $3.4 billion
for border security for two years. That amount will not be used to build
out new projects for the wall and instead go to the Texas Department of
Safety and the Texas National Guard, the main agencies responsible for
Operation Lone Star, Abbott's key immigration program launched in 2021
during the Biden administration.
The money allocated for border security is nearly half the $6.5 billion
that was dedicated to immigration efforts the last time lawmakers
earmarked the state budget two years ago.
Funds previously allocated for the wall will allow work on it to
continue through 2026 and “will set the federal government up for
success,” said Republican Sen. Joan Huffman, the lead budget writer in
the state Senate.
The agency responsible for constructing the wall has about $2.5 billion
remaining in funding to cover up to 85 additional miles (135 additional
kilometers) of the wall by 2026, according to a statement made in April
by Texas Facilities Commission executive director Mike Novak, whose
agency is overseeing construction of the project.
“This wall should have never been built, it’s useless,” said Bekah
Hinojosa, co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network.
"It divides our community.”
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