A top official in the Trump administration is promising to unveil prototypes of the proposed border wall this summer.
Speaking to Breitbart Texas, a U.S. Customs and Border Protections spokesperson said up to eight designs -- both solid concrete and a see-through structure -- will be constructed in San Diego. However, as with any proposal, Congress holds the purse strings.
“The president asked for an additional $2.6 billion for border security, part of that would building a wall, but it would only be building about 48 new miles of wall for about a billion dollars,” says Alex Nowrasteh, immigration policy analyst at The Cato Institute.
Nowrasteh says a wall may not even be needed if and when the designs are finalized.
“Right now Congress doesn't want to spend the money on that considering illegal border crossers are down tremendously to a level that we haven't seen since at least the late 1960s,” he says.
Though the wall was Trump's biggest campaign promise, his own tough rhetoric on immigration could save taxpayers billions of dollars.