By the Numbers: Holes in the wall

38%

The amount of the nation’s southern border covered by what the Trump administration calls the primary wall. More than a year into his second term, President Donald Trump’s progress fulfilling his 2016 campaign promise to build a wall at the southern border has been slowed by building delays and legal quandaries despite Congress funding the program.

64 miles

The length of new primary border wall construction completed since Trump’s second term began in January 2025 according to an Aug. 19 report from Customs and Border Protection.

$46.5 billion

The amount of money authorized by the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act for border wall work.

70%

The share of the southern border that lies on private, tribal, or state land. That has led to complicated legal proceedings to gain title to erect border barriers. The government filed more than 100 eminent domain cases between 2017 and 2020 alone.