Sponsors (30)
The bill accelerates and clarifies border wall construction and oversight—creating jobs and clearer rules for deployment while increasing federal spending, expanding surveillance and privacy risks for border residents (including tribes), and limiting flexibility to address environmental and legal concerns.
People who live in border communities, local contractors, and local governments get continued construction work and related contracts that support jobs and local economies.
Congress, oversight committees, and the public gain clearer timelines, quarterly benchmarks, specified committees, and faster reporting requirements that increase transparency and make it easier to track project completion.
Border law enforcement and border communities benefit from clearer statutory definitions so infrastructure, sensors, and tactical systems can be planned and deployed with less legal ambiguity.
People living near the border and travelers face expanded surveillance, detection systems, lighting, and restricted access (boat ramps, roads) that increase privacy intrusions and limit movement.
Taxpayers across the country bear the cost of resumed wall construction and expanded surveillance technology, diverting federal funds from other priorities.
Tribal communities and private property owners risk infringements on tribal sovereignty, cultural sites, and private-property rights when construction occurs on or across their lands.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Requires DHS to restart and complete pre-2021 U.S.–Mexico border wall projects using funds appropriated/obligated since Oct 1, 2016, and to certify CBP DNA Act compliance.
Official title: To immediately resume construction of the border wall system along the international border between the United States and Mexico to secure the border, enforce the rule of law, and expend appropriated funds as mandated by Congress, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 3, 2025 by Clay Higgins · Last progress January 3, 2025
Requires the Department of Homeland Security to resume and finish construction of the U.S.–Mexico border wall system projects that were underway or planned before January 20, 2021, using funds appropriated or explicitly obligated for that purpose beginning October 1, 2016. It orders DHS to restart activities within 24 hours, prohibit cancellation of contracts entered into by January 20, 2021, provide implementation plans and benchmarks to finish construction by September 30, 2026, and honor written agreements with private parties, States, localities, and Tribes. Also directs DHS to certify within 14 days that U.S. Customs and Border Protection is fully compliant with the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005 at all border facilities that process adults, and defines key terms (appropriate congressional committees, tactical infrastructure, technology) used in the Act.