President Trump said Tuesday that construction on the border wall would begin “soon” and confirmed that he planned to build the wall during his first term.
“We’re already preparing. We’re doing plans, we’re doing specifications, we’re doing a lot of work on the wall, and the wall is going to get built,” Trump said during a roundtable with agricultural leaders at the White House.
Trump faced questions about whether he would sign a funding bill that does not include appropriations for his promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Although the administration signaled last week that the border wall would be a priority in negotiations over the continuing resolution, the White House has since backed off its assertion that funding for the wall is a must-have in this round of spending talks.
Officials have pointed to upcoming negotiations over next year’s budget, which is due in September, as the likely setting for a fight over border wall funding.
“The wall’s going to get built, folks. In case anybody has any questions, the wall is going to get built,” Trump said Tuesday. “And the wall is going to stop drugs and it’s going to stop a lot of people from coming in that shouldn’t be here and it’s going to have a huge effect on human trafficking, which is a tremendous problem in this world, a problem that nobody talks about but it’s a problem that’s probably worse than any time in the history of this world.”
Trump vowed on the campaign trail that he would force Mexico to pay for his wall, but he has so far failed to articulate how his administration will compel the Mexican government to foot the bill.
Democrats have already staked out fierce opposition to the concept of a border wall, and a handful of lawmakers in Trump’s own party have questioned whether a physical barrier along the entire expanse of the southern border is an efficient use of resources. This is especially true of Texas Republicans whose districts would be impacted by the wall’s construction.
