Construction restarted on a border wall near the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry on the U.S.-Mexico border in California on Jan. 22, followed by border wall construction and reinforcement work beginning near El Paso, Texas, on Jan. 31.

President Donald Trump said during his presidential campaign he would finish construction of a border wall that began during his first term. This new work, however, is using funds appropriated and contracts awarded during his first administration. 

In California, new wall sections with "anti-climb" features are being built in areas that either never had a barrier or only had older fencing. They are being built using 2018 border wall appropriations and contracts held by contractor Fisher Sand & Gravel. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also sent personnel to the area around Friendship Park near the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry where new wall sections have been under construction for nearly two weeks.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it would complete the project using only fiscal 2018 funding as other funds from 2021 and 2022 were not specified for the California portions of the wall. 

President Trump’s national emergency declaration "...directs the Dept. of Homeland Security to take all appropriate action to deploy and construct temporary and permanent physical barriers to ensure complete operational control of the southern border of the United States,” according to CBP. 

"CBP is working to close numerous gaps in the existing border barrier in the U.S. Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector,” the spokesperson added. "These projects are in various stages of planning and construction is anticipated to start as early as March 2025."

Five hundred U.S. Marines and sailors have also been deployed from Camp Pendleton to the southern border to assist in enforcement operations there. In Texas, an estimated 1,500 troops have already arrived at Fort Bliss and will be deployed across the border region from El Paso to Sunland Park, N.M., to join Border Patrol efforts. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Immigration Czar Tom Homan arrived at Sunland Park on Feb. 3 to inspect the operations. 

New sections of the federal border wall in the El Paso sector started construction in the last days of January using 2020 funds that the Biden administration had confirmed would be used for a border wall in 2023 but had not started construction on yet. While Fisher also holds the 2020 federal border wall contract, it's not yet known which contractors are working on the sections being built near El Paso and crews from the Corps were also deployed to the area with the troops from Fort Bliss.

Any further federal funding for border wall construction not already appropriated would require new legislation from Congress.

Border State Seeks Reimbursement

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has also asked Congress to reimburse the state $11 billion for what he says would cover both construction of a separate state border wall, acquisition of land and enforcement measures the state took during the Biden years. 

In a letter to congressional leaders, Abbot details expenditures the state has taken on since 2020, including $4.75 billion for "border wall and other border barrier funding, local border security grants to counties and cities, processing criminal trespass arrests and the relocation of migrants out of small Texas towns," and $3.62 billion for "personnel costs for the deployment of National Guard soldiers to build border barriers, guard the border and construct barriers, and apprehend migrants who entered illegally."

The Texas Facilities Commission approved five contracting items in September 2023 for the Texas Border Infrastructure Program. These included not-to-exceed contracts of $85 million to Posillico Civil Inc.; $82 million to Southwest Valley Contractors Co., a unit of Kiewit Corp.; $69 million to Fisher Sand and Gravel Co.; and $150 million to BFBC of Texas, a unit of Barnard Construction. All of the firms had previously received federal border wall construction contracts. Fisher also built the separately funded private wall sections in Texas.

"This is part of the ongoing discussions with members of Congress to reimburse Texas for the more than $11 billion spent to secure the border and protect Texans and Americans. Governor Abbott recently spoke with members of the Texas Congressional delegation about a reimbursement and continues working with Congress on the details," said Andrew Mahaleris, press secretary for Gov. Abbott, in a statement.

Contractors are performing ongoing work on the state border wall separate from the federal wall. If Texas were to turn its border wall and land over to the federal government in exchange for reimbursement, it is conceivable that those contracts would transfer from the state to a federal agency such as the General Services Administration, the Corps of Engineers or CBP.

This story was updated February 5 with comments from the office of Gov. Greg Abbott.