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Trump border-barrier program drew on DHS appropriations, redirected defense funds and a Treasury transfer

Reporting and findings

  1. documented

    GAO found that CBP and the Department of Defense installed about 458 miles of border-barrier panels from January 2017 through January 2021 and that 81 percent of those miles replaced existing barriers. GAO also reported cultural and natural-resource harms, including effects on tribal burial sites, water sources, endangered species and erosion.

  2. reported

    CRS recorded $5.841 billion in enacted DHS border-barrier budget authority for fiscal years 2017 through 2021, $9.9 billion redirected from Defense counterdrug and military-construction funding, and $601 million transferred from the Treasury Forfeiture Fund to DHS. These funding streams do not establish one cash-spending total: CRS reported that most Treasury funds were never obligated and $455 million was returned in June 2021.

  3. documented

    Trump's February 15, 2019 proclamation declared a national emergency at the southern border and invoked military-construction authority for Defense Department support. CRS identifies Executive Order 13767 as the policy direction for immediate wall construction and attributes the later effort to obtain funding beyond congressional DHS appropriations to the Trump administration.

Summary and current status

CRS documented three funding streams with different legal and accounting bases. GAO separately documented installed panel mileage and the share that replaced existing barriers.

Historical funding authority, transfers and construction outputs; no combined spending total

People and organizations

Relationships in this file

  1. Donald J. TrumpOrdered immediate wall construction and invoked emergency military-construction authorityTrump border-barrier program drew on DHS appropriations, redirected defense funds and a Treasury transfer

Money trail

  1. commitmentDefense and military-construction funding redirected for border barriers$9.9 billion
    Reported commitment source
    Department of Defense counterdrug and military-construction accounts
    Reported intended recipient
    Defense Department border-barrier development
    Financially affected
    Programs and military-construction projects from which authority was redirected
    reported · 2024-03-04 · observedRead source record
    Calculation detailsPopulation FY2019 and FY2020 Defense counterdrug and military-construction authority redirected for border-barrier workPeriod 2019-02-15 to 2020-09-30Basis Sum the three CRS-documented authority tranches once: $2.5 billion in FY2019 Defense counterdrug funds, $3.6 billion in FY2019 military-construction funds and $3.8 billion transferred under counterdrug authority in FY2020.Limits Redirected authority is not identical to obligations, disbursements or completed construction. CRS's contract table covers a subset and reports separate obligation and disbursement amounts. Never add this figure to those execution measures.
  2. commitmentDHS border-barrier budget authority enacted for FY2017–FY2021$5.841 billion
    Committed by / source
    Congress through Department of Homeland Security appropriations
    Committed toward / intended recipient
    U.S. Customs and Border Protection border-barrier program
    Financially affected
    U.S. taxpayers and communities and resources along construction sites
    committed · 2024-03-04 · observedRead source record
    Calculation detailsPopulation Congressional DHS appropriations for border-barrier planning and construction in fiscal years 2017 through 2021Period 2016-10-01 to 2021-09-30Basis Use CRS Table 2's enacted column and total nominal dollars of budget authority. This is authority provided to DHS, not a claim that the full amount was obligated or disbursed.Limits Nominal budget authority rounded to the nearest million. The report distinguishes appropriations from obligations and disbursements. Do not combine this value with the Defense or Treasury streams as a final spending total.
  3. commitmentTreasury Forfeiture Fund transfer to DHS for border barriers$601 million transferred
    Reported commitment source
    Treasury Forfeiture Fund
    Reported intended recipient
    Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection
    Financially affected
    U.S. public funds
    reported · 2024-03-04 · observedRead source record
    Calculation detailsPopulation Treasury Forfeiture Fund money transferred to DHS for law-enforcement border-security effortsPeriod 2019-02-15 to 2019-09-27Basis Use CRS's reported full transfer to DHS on September 27, 2019. Record the transfer once and keep it separate from DHS appropriations and Defense redirections.Limits A transfer is not final spending. CRS reported that most of this money was never obligated and $455 million was returned to the fund in June 2021.

Figures

  1. Border-barrier panel miles installedAbout 458 miles
    Calculation details
    Basis
    Observed
    Population
    Southwest-border barrier panels installed by CBP and DOD
    Period
    2017-01-20 to 2021-01-20
    As of
    2023-09-05
    Method
    Use GAO's rounded installed-panel mileage for January 2017 through January 2021. Panel miles are not completed wall-system miles and are not a financial addend.
    Uncertainty
    GAO reports an approximate mileage. Installation of panels does not imply completion of lighting, sensors, roads or other wall-system elements.
  2. Installed panel miles replacing existing barriers81 percent
    Calculation details
    Basis
    Observed
    Population
    Share of the approximately 458 installed panel miles that replaced existing barriers
    Period
    2017-01-20 to 2021-01-20
    As of
    2023-09-05
    Method
    Use GAO's reported percentage of installed panel mileage. It describes the composition of the 458-mile population and must not be treated as another mileage or financial amount.
    Uncertainty
    Rounded share reported by GAO; it does not measure barrier effectiveness or the share of total border length covered.