Can Governor Greg Abbott Build the Wall That Trump Couldn’t?

Greg Abbott is trying to finish the wall that Trump started on the Texas/Mexico border, but can he overcome the obstacles that impeded the Trump administration?

According to the Texas Tribune, President George W. Bush started the process with the Secure Fence Act in 2006 which completed 654 miles of fencing on the U.S./Mexico border in the course of 9 years.

Trump also erected 80 miles of new barrier during his term in office with 21 miles of new construction along the Texas/Mexico border.

Now Governor Abbott, a Trump ally, has taken on the task of building a barrier along the 1,200 mile border shared by Texas and Mexico.

So far there is 145 miles of barrier along the border at this time, but because the Rio Grande River is causing its own challenges for the wall because the barrier is built some space away from the river because of the way it winds along the border, that makes it more difficult to know how many miles of barrier would be needed to cover the whole 1,200 miles.

So far 90 miles of barrier was built before the Trump Administration, and 55 miles along the border were completed by Trump while in office.

Governor Abbott will have to get by the biggest challenge, money.

So far the state has allowed $250 million, and Abbott has gotten $829,000 in donations from the public as of July 14, 2021.

The combined money so far would build between 7 and 62 miles of barrier since the contracts for building the wall ranged from $4-34 million for construction.

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas say that they don't see that the governor has thought about the complexities of building the wall like building a barrier near the Rio Grande could possibly make flooding worse in the communities along the river.

We will have to see how everything turns out in the coming months.