The Trump administration announced on Friday that it awarded billions of dollars in contracts to expand construction of the “Smart Wall” along the southwest border. 

President Donald Trump has for years made building a wall to keep illegal immigrants out of the United States the signature tenet of his message to voters. 

Recommended Stories

• Nvidia will pay 100k visa fees, others unsure
• DHS eyeing buildings in Chicago and Portland for immigration operations
• Bounties to assassinate ICE in Chicago came from Mexico, DHS reveals

The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s move to approve 10 new construction contracts, totaling roughly $4.5 billion, seeks to carry out the president’s push for enhanced border security. The Smart Wall system includes steel barriers, waterborne barriers, patrol roads, lighting, cameras, and advanced sensor detection technology, all designed to expand the government’s capacity to surveil the border.

“For years, Washington talked about border security but failed to deliver. This President changed that,” CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said in a statement. “The Smart Wall means more miles of barriers, more technology, and more capability for our agents on the ground. This is how you take control of the border.”

The contracts are part of a project designed to add hundreds of miles of Smart Wall along the southwest border, promising to add 230 miles of barriers and nearly 400 miles of technology. They will spur border security development in locations across Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California,  according to the CBP. 

The projects are the first to be funded through Trump’s “big, beautiful” marquee budget bill, which he signed into law in July. The legislation allocated around $46.5 billion for border security and additional wall construction. 

BORDER PATROL CHIEF HOPEFUL ‘ZERO’ ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSINGS POSSIBLE UNDER TRUMP’S TARGETED APPROACH

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in August that about half a mile of wall is going up daily along the nearly 2,000-mile border. 

This week, Noem announced she issued two waivers for projects in CBP’s San Diego and El Paso, Texas, sectors to “cut through bureaucratic red tape and expedite the construction” of the Smart Wall.