15 Miles of New Border Walls Slated for Construction in Texas

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials announced contract awards for four new border wall segments in Starr County, Texas.

CBP officials reported the new border wall systems to be constructed in the Rio Grande Valley Sector (RGV), the nation’s busiest in terms of human and drug smuggling, which includes new 30-foot steel bollard wall, all-weather roads, lighting, enforcement cameras, and other border security technology. The construction is slated to begin later this year.

Officials said the new walls are to be constructed in locations where no physical barriers currently exist. These will be new walls, officials stated.

CBP procurement officers awarded the $175,577,000 contract to Randy Kinder Excavating, Inc. The contract calls for four non-contiguous segments. The new segments will connect to other recently completed border wall segments near Roma, Rio Grande City, Escobares, La Grulla, and a community known as Salineño, Texas.

Prior to the award of the contract, CBP officials consulted with local elected officials for each of the impacted communities.

“RGV is the busiest sector in the nation and, for the FY to date, accounts for approximately 25% of the illegal alien apprehensions and ranks first in seized cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana along the southwest border,” CBP officials stated. “The majority of its activity is occurring in areas where RGV has limited infrastructure, access and mobility, and technology.”

Officials report this construction contract is funded by CBP’s Fiscal Year 2018 and 2019 appropriations. It is reported to be related to President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 13767 — the Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements order.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.