U.S. Reps. Will Hurd (R-TX) and Martha McSally (R-AZ) recently published an oversight letter, requesting specific details regarding the Trump Administration’s $999 million request for the planning, design, and construction of the first installment of the proposed border wall between the United States and Mexico.
Their letter was addressed to Secretary of the Department Homeland Security (DHS) John Kelly and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney.
Hurd and McSally’s districts span approximately 880 miles of the southern border, representing almost half of the border’s length. In their letter, the Congress members ask for specific details on the wall’s planned route, how to define what an adequate natural barrier is, and how investments in technology and infrastructure will be spent.
“While we have both publicly stated in the past that we believe physical barriers to be one of many tools required to gain operational control of the border,” the representatives wrote. “We also believe that an expenditure this large, and submitted with limited details, deserves additional scrutiny to ensure funds are being used effectively in pursuit of our shared goal of securing the southwest border.”
The lawmakers also requested details on how DHS plans to alleviate the current hiring backlog of both U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Border Patrol officers and how the department plans to address the high rate of polygraph failures for potential recruits.