Trump gets his steel border slat fence, with only a few limitations

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Congressional negotiators unveiled a bill early Thursday morning that will let Trump build the steel slat border fence he has talked about for weeks, with only a few limitations on where it can be built.

Trump for several weeks has said he can live with a steel slat fence instead of the concrete border wall he campaigned on, and the bill as submitted will give him up to $1.375 billion worth of steel slat fence. While that’s short of the $5.7 billion he wanted, it’s more than the $1 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was willing to give, and Republicans were calling it a “down payment” on the project.

That down payment is described in Section 230 of the bill, which says $1.375 billion is reserved for “the construction of primary pedestrian fencing, including levee pedestrian fencing, in the Rio Grande Valley Sector.”

According to lawmakers, that language will let Trump build up to 55 miles of new border barrier as long as it’s a barrier design that has already been deployed there. Since steel slat fencing is already in use at the border, Trump is free to use more of it.

But the bill also includes language that puts a limit on where Trump can build. Section 231 says none of the money can be used to build fencing in five key wildlife areas.

Those areas are the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge, the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, the La Lomita Historical Park, the National Butterfly Center, or in or near a section of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

The bill also includes a third limitation for new fencing that the Trump administration might want to build near major cities. Section 232 of the bill says the Department of Homeland Security must “confer and seek to reach mutual agreement” on fencing designs near these cities.

That limitation applies to five cities or areas of Texas: Roma, Rio Grande City, Escobares, La Grulla, and Salineo.

The bill also provides $725 million for the deployment of new border security technology that both parties supported, and another $270 million for “construction and facility improvements.”

Susan Ferrechio contributed

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