Noem Speeds Up Border Wall Construction At Places Like ‘Smugglers Gulch’

The Trump administration is fast-tracking wall construction along a critical section of the U.S.-Mexico border, the latest move by the White House to prioritize 🛂Immigration enforcement.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is waiving environmental restrictions in order to expedite the construction of roughly 2.5 miles of border barrier between California and Mexico, according to a notice published Tuesday on the Federal Register by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The announcement marked the first environmental waiver used to fast-track border wall construction during President Donald Trump’s second term in office.

“There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct additional physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States,” Noem said in the notice, citing the high number of border crossings in the San Diego area in 2024.

“In order to ensure the expeditious construction of additional physical barriers and roads in the project area, I have determined that it is necessary that I exercise the authority that is vested in me,” Noem continued.

The waiver will expedite border wall construction in the San Diego area, with a DHS announcement specifying that it will apply to roughly two miles of the San Diego Sector (SDC) Jacumba Gap Wall project, about 350 feet of the SDC Smugglers Gulch Project and another 600 to 1,500 feet of the SDC Wall Project.