Border Wall & Security News
The Daily Signal provides stay informed with border wall and security news, including reporting, analysis, and opinion on immigration enforcement and national sovereignty.
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news
California’s Plan to Finish 119 Miles of High-Speed Rail to Cost $89 Million Per Mile, 4 Times More Than Trump’s Border Wall
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to finish the 119-mile stretch of high-speed rail in the Central Valley is expected to cost $10.6 billion, according to official estimates—or $89 million per mile. Newsom said in a Tuesday press conference that finishing that stretch of line was about “economic transformation and unlocking the enormous potential of… -
news
Angel Dad: Border Wall Funding ‘Would Have Been There Months Ago’ If Pelosi or Schumer’s Child Were Killed
If congressional Democrats suffered the way the family of Dan Ferguson, an angel dad, has, funding for a border wall would have been approved months ago, Ferguson told “Fox & Friends” hosts Monday. Ferguson’s daughter Amanda was killed in a hit-and-run accident in November 2018. Joel Velazquez, 24, is in the U.S. illegally and had been drinking… -
opinion
The Truth About Border Walls’ Effectiveness
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not to his own facts.” That pithy observation is attributed to the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who served in the Senate from 1977 to 2001. The final two years of Moynihan’s stint in the Senate overlapped the first two years of that of his fellow New… -
news
Trump Has Authority to Declare Emergency for Border Wall, Arizona Lawmaker Says
President Donald Trump does have the authority to declare a national emergency in order to build his promised border barrier between the United States and Mexico if gridlock in Congress makes it necessary, a Republican lawmaker says. “He has the authority, and it’s not unique,” Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said Wednesday at Conversations with Conservatives,… -
opinion
Much of Border Wall Fight About Trump Resistance, Not Border Security
Politicians often clothe outrageous policies in reasonable rhetoric. President Donald Trump sometimes does the opposite, wrapping reasonable policy in careless rhetoric. Remember his earlier call for a “Muslim travel ban”? The policy itself—temporary restrictions on travel from a half-dozen countries—was perfectly reasonable. As the ISIS caliphate collapsed, its fighters began fleeing to those nations, and Trump… -
news
During Trump Visit to Border, Families of Slain Officers Call for Border Wall
After his police officer brother, who had immigrated to the United States legally, was allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant, Reggie Singh says it’s time for the government to do whatever it takes to stop illegal immigration. “The way he was killed, what my family’s going through right now, I do not want any other… -
opinion
The Frustrating Flip-Flopping of Politicians Over the Border Wall
Despite advance billing that President Donald Trump’s border wall speech would break news and contain new information, it was mostly familiar rhetoric: Criminals and drugs, rapists and murderers are coming to America and the wall is the only way to stop them. The president named families who have lost loved ones at the hands of… -
opinion
Border Wall First Big Government-Funded Infrastructure Project Liberals Don’t Like
Profligate politicians have never met a multibillion-dollar infrastructure project they didn’t like—except when it comes to President Donald Trump’s border wall. Think about it. Boston’s Big Dig black hole, the nation’s most expensive highway project, burned through $25 billion and was plagued by deadly engineering incompetence, endless cost overruns, leaks, lawsuits, and debt. California’s high-speed… -
news
From Oval Office, Trump Says Border Wall Would Make Nation ‘Safer Than Ever Before’
President Donald Trump made an emotional plea Tuesday night for Congress to pass a border security package that includes funding for a steel wall, to minimize the number of victims of violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants. His proposal for a steel wall and other border security measures would make America “safer than ever before,” … -
opinion
We Hear You: The Border Wall and Shutdown Politics
Editor's note: The clash between the president and congressional Democrats over a border wall resulted in a partial government shutdown that is entering its third week. The Daily Signal's audience appears to have Trump's back. Write us at [email protected].—Ken McIntyre Dear Daily Signal: It wasn't all that long ago that Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and the… -
news
House Democrats Release Plan to End Government Shutdown Without Border Wall Funding
House Democrats are putting together a plan to end the partial government shutdown, which does not include any additional funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who vehemently opposed the border wall, calling it “immoral, ineffective, and expensive,” and her Democratic colleagues reportedly put together legislation that would reopen the government and allocate $1.3… -
news
Wounded Veteran Raising Millions for Border Wall on GoFundMe Page
After three days, a GoFundMe page started by a Purple Heart recipient to help pay for a border wall has more than $6 million from more than 100,000 people as of this writing. This comes as Congress appears unlikely to give President Donald Trump the funding he wants to help pay for his key campaign… -
news
Retiring Republicans May Not Show Up to Vote, Threatening Border Wall Vote
There might be one bloc conspicuously absent from Washington, D.C., this week amid the possibility of a shutdown: retired House Republicans. Government funding expires at midnight Friday, and despite President Donald Trump’s repeated calls to pass $5 billion for border wall funding, Republicans in either chamber might not be able to pass a spending bill… -
news
House GOP Urged to Use Lame-Duck Session to Fund Border Wall, Make Good on Other Promises
Conservative Republicans are calling for a busy lame-duck session of Congress between now and Jan. 3, when Democrats will retake the majority in—and control of—the House. “Republicans still have an opportunity to do what we said,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, former chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said in a statement provided to The Daily… -
news
Exclusive: Border Wall Still Key to Immigration Bills, GOP Spokeswoman Says
The wall promised by President Donald Trump at the southern border remains key to national security as Republican lawmakers debate two bills to reform the immigration system, top GOP spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal, even as one immigration bill failed to pass Thursday and a vote on a… -
news
Trump’s Idea of Using Military Resources for Border Wall Isn’t Unprecedented
The military has been involved before in putting up a barrier along the U.S.-Mexican border without explicit authorization from Congress, according to a 2009 government report. President Donald Trump recently proposed to draw from the $700 billion appropriated for the military for funds to build the border wall, which comes with a price tag estimated… -
news
GOP Senator Proposes Transferring Sanctuary Cities’ Federal Funds to Border Wall Budget
One Republican senator is proposing a new solution for sanctuary cities that do not follow U.S. immigration law: Take some of their federal funding and transfer it to a budget for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall. “How many innocent American lives must be lost before security becomes the first priority of immigration?” Sen. Luther Strange,… -
news
Underreported: How Building a Border Wall Changed San Diego
In 1986, the San Diego Border Patrol sector accounted for approximately one-third of all apprehensions along the U.S.-Mexico border. Today, it accounts for only a small fraction. How did the region go from one of the busiest sectors for illegal border crossings to one of the most secure? In our latest edition of “Underreported,” The… -
news
White House Vows Funding for Border Wall, Just Not Now
Congress plans to pass a final spending bill to keep the government running beyond the next week, but without funding for a border wall. The White House, however, says it will demand money for President Donald Trump’s signature campaign issue in next year’s budget plan. “The president is committed to having a physical border wall…. -
news
House Conservatives Back Trump’s Border Wall Request
Two House conservatives expressed support for the Trump administration’s request for billions of dollars in funding to begin work on a planned border wall, saying the nation needs to do “what’s necessary” to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. “We need to do what’s necessary to protect the United States, and we need to pay for that…