First Panels for the New Tecate Border Wall Project Installed

TECATE, Calif. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), began construction on June 11, 2018, of approximately 15 miles of new border wall system in place of dilapidated and outdated designs in the state of California within U.S. Border Patrol’s (USBP) San Diego and El Centro Sectors.  These projects include the construction of 30-foot tall steel bollards and technology improvements.

These projects are funded by CBP’s Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) appropriation and are not undertaken pursuant to the National Emergency Declaration, 10 U.S.C § 284, 10 U.S.C. § 2808, nor does it draw from any other source of funding, including appropriations available to the Department of Defense.

On December 20, 2018, on behalf of CBP, USACE awarded a contract to SLSCO Ltd for approximately $88 million to construct approximately 11 miles of new border wall system in place of dilapidated or outdated designs located in Calexico, Calif., within USBP’s El Centro Sector.  That same day USACE also awarded a contract to SLSCO Ltd for approximately $39 million to construct approximately four miles of new border wall system in in place of dilapidated or outdated designs located in Tecate, within USBP San Diego Sector.  Construction, as a result of these contracts, is anticipated to continue into 2020.

The San Diego and El Centro Sectors are areas of high illegal entry and are experiencing large numbers of individuals and narcotics being smuggled into the country illegally.  The construction of border infrastructure within these project areas will support DHS’s ability to impede and deny illegal border crossings and the drug and human smuggling activities of transnational criminal organizations.

CBP continues to implement President Trump’s Executive Order 13767 – also known as Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements – and continues to take steps to expeditiously plan, design, and construct a physical wall using appropriate materials and technology to most effectively achieve operational control of the southern border.