U.S. Customs and Border Protection has awarded a $309 million contract for U.S.-Mexico border wall construction to Fisher Sand & Gravel, according to a June 18 news release from the agency.
The Dickinson, North Dakota-based firm will build approximately 27 miles of new border wall in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, which is located within the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector. The project to “close critical openings in the border wall” is funded with the agency’s fiscal year 2021 funds and will resume work that was canceled during the Biden administration, per U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
This is the second border wall construction contract of President Donald Trump’s second term. Watsonville, California-based Granite Construction nabbed the first: a $70 million contract to build approximately 7 miles of new border barriers in Hidalgo County, Texas.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also issued a new waiver to speed up construction of up to an additional 17 miles of new border wall in Texas within the agency’s Rio Grande Valley Sector, according to the release. This allows builders to bypass environmental laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act.
“This is the fifth waiver that has been signed by Secretary Noem for border wall construction and demonstrates DHS’s continued commitment to ensuring the expeditious construction of physical barriers necessary to secure the southern border of the United States,” per the release.
Although the Trump administration is continuing to support border wall construction, Texas has stopped funding its effort after installing only a fraction of the hundreds of miles of potential barrier championed by Gov. Greg Abbott, The Texas Tribune reported. Just 8% of the 805 miles the state identified for construction is complete, at a cost of $3 billion.
