{"id":17560,"date":"2018-08-29T10:32:31","date_gmt":"2018-08-29T14:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=17560"},"modified":"2018-12-28T10:06:00","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T15:06:00","slug":"gao-pokes-at-breaches-in-border-wall-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2018\/08\/29\/gao-pokes-at-breaches-in-border-wall-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"GAO Pokes at Breaches in Border Wall Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"
Wondering about the status of that U.S.-Mexico border wall? The Government Accountability Office has some doubly disheartening news.<\/p>\n
In a 49-page report<\/a>, the federal agency found that the Department of Homeland Security \u201cdid not analyze cost when prioritizing border segment(s)\u201d and that the project could \u201ctake longer than planned.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDHS plans to spend billions of dollars developing and deploying new barriers along the southwest border. However, by proceeding without key information on cost, acquisition baselines, and the contributions of previous barrier and technology deployments, DHS faces an increased risk that the Border Wall System Program will cost more than projected, take longer than planned, or not fully perform as expected,\u201d the GAO report concluded.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to imagine that Donald Trump would build a hotel, or anything else, without a firm grasp of the costs involved. Yet DHS and its Customs and Border Protection (CBP) division are not only painfully slow in fulfilling the president\u2019s signature pledge, but apparently under-informed about its expense.<\/p>\n CBP estimates that constructing barriers at its top 17 priority locations will run $18 billion across 722 miles. But that estimate was based on an average cost per mile and is \u201cnot intended to reflect the costs of individual construction projects,\u201d GAO noted.<\/p>\n