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The detail emerged in the follow-up to Harris’ Democratic National Convention (DNC) speech in Chicago, Illinois, US, last week. In that speech, the Democratic candidate said she would sign into law, as president, a bipartisan border security bill, which includes standards and specification for about US$650 million of construction work for a border wall.

Harris had previously said as a US Senator that Republican Trump’s wall construction was a “complete waste of taxpayer money” in a . However, Harris’ post referred specifically to a that suggested Trump’s wall design required storm gates to be left open for months to mitigate flooding effects.

The allocated funds for the wall in the bipartisan border bill, however, do not represent new money for the project. The funding and standards were developed in Trump’s last year of his presidency, and Harris’ campaign referred to the $650-million spend as a continuation of previously cancelled or reallocated work.

Timeline on Trump’s border wall with Mexico

Construction of the border wall between the US and Mexico near El Paso, Texas, US. (Image: Adobe Stock)

Building a border wall between US and Mexico was a hallmark policy of Donald Trump’s first campaign for president.

After he took office in 2017, a US$12.5 billion spending bill was passed by the US Congress for border security, with some funding earmarked for building a steel-slate wall along the border. Trump had requested an additional $18 billion in 2018, though this measure never developed.

Work on the wall took place for years. To date, roughly 450 miles (724km) of the wall has been built at a cost approximated to be more than $10 billion.

Contractors included US firms SLSCO, Fisher Sand & Gravel, Barnard Construction Company, R&L Brosamer, Kiewit Infrastructure West, Grunley Construction, Hunt Construction, W.G. Yates & Sons Construction, Caddell Construction and Canada-based PCL Construction.

President Joe Biden, after his inauguration in 2021, cancelled or reallocated much of the border wall work.