So how is Trump’s wall doing and who is paying for it?
When Donald Trump first ran for the US presidency, one of his biggest – in every sense of the world – promises was that he would build a wall along the whole of the country’s southern border and that he would ensure that Mexico paid for it. So, now that he’s been in the White House for almost four years and he’s seeking re-election, how is that promise working out?
In his speech to the Republican National Convention, Trump asserted: “We have already built 300 miles of border wall”.
A total of 245 miles of wall has been built in place of old barriers. But only 30 miles of new wall has actually been built. Most of this (25 miles) is what is called “secondary wall”, which is constructed to reinforce the primary border barrier.
Now the total length of the continental border is 1,954 miles. That means that Trump has added 1.5 % to the existing wall in his four years in office.
While running for president, Trump claimed that the wall would cost $8 to $12 billion and that he could force Mexico to pay for it. Serious cost estimates of the proposed wall vary widely. In early 2017, shortly after Trump took office, the Department of Homeland Security estimated the cost at $22 billion.
So far, Mexico has contributed nothing. If you prefer a percentage figure, that’s 0%.