US-Mexico border wall construction contracts to be awarded mid-April

President Donald Trump has promised to build a wall between Mexico and the United States, and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Friday that it plans to start awarding construction contracts for the project by mid-April, according to a report from the Associated Press. The president told the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday that construction will start “very soon” and is “way, way, way ahead of schedule.”
There are no details from the agency nor the Trump administration on where exactly the wall would be built and how many miles it would cover. Additionally, the agency gave no word on how the wall would be paid for. President Trump has said Mexico would cover the construction cost, but that country’s president — Enrique Peña Nieto — has said he has no intention of funding the project.
“The U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates it would cost on average $6.5 million a mile for a fence to keep out people who try to enter on foot and $1.8 million a mile for vehicle barriers. There are currently 354 miles of pedestrian fencing and 300 miles of vehicle barriers, much of it built during President George W. Bush’s second term,” the AP reported.
An internal Homeland Security Department report prepared for Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly estimates the cost of extending the wall along the entire U.S.-Mexico border at about $21 billion, the AP report continued. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in January that he expects the cost to be between $12 billion to $15 billion.