Sponsors (11)
The bill reallocates unobligated COVID relief funds to speed construction and maintenance of southern border physical barriers—potentially improving local border control outcomes but diverting pandemic recovery resources and making entry harder for immigrants and asylum seekers.
Taxpayers gain a dedicated federal funding source (reallocated unobligated COVID relief funds) to finance construction and maintenance of southern border physical barriers, which could accelerate projects that might otherwise wait for appropriations.
Border communities could see faster completion and upkeep of physical barriers, which proponents argue may reduce unauthorized crossings and related incidents in those localities.
State and local governments and taxpayers lose access to unobligated COVID relief funds that would otherwise support pandemic response and local priorities, reducing resources for public health and imposing a fiscal trade-off at the state/local level.
Taxpayers effectively bear the economic cost of redirecting federal pandemic relief dollars to border construction instead of recovery or other local investments.
Immigrants and asylum seekers may face increased obstacles to entry and reduced access to asylum as DHS is required to build and maintain physical barriers, potentially limiting legal pathways and humanitarian protections.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Redirects all unobligated Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds into a new Treasury fund for DHS to build and maintain physical barriers on the U.S. southern border.
Introduced January 28, 2025 by Jefferson Shreve · Last progress January 28, 2025
Directs the federal government to take all unobligated amounts from the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) and immediately deposit them into a new Treasury account called the Southern Border Wall Construction Fund, then allows the Department of Homeland Security to use that Fund to build and maintain physical barriers along the U.S. southern border. The measure repurposes unspent COVID-19 relief money nationwide to finance border wall construction and maintenance, and makes that transfer effective upon enactment.