U.S. Customs and Border Patrol ignored more cost effective and appropriate solutions to obtain operational control of the southern border, instead rushing to build President Donald Trump’s wall, according to an inspector general report released Thursday.
Trump’s barrier is one of the largest federal infrastructure projects in the nation’s history and nearly $10 billion has been secured to construct approximately 509 miles. So far, 235 miles have been completed. By the end of 2020, CBP expects to have completed 450 miles of a “new border wall system.”
The report suggested hiring more agents might have been better.
The IG conducted its audit to “determine to what extent CBP has executed the Analyze/Select Phase, the second phase of the Acquisition Life Cycle Framework, for the acquisition of the barrier along the southern border.”
Jim H. Crumpacker, the department’s liaison to the inspector general, said CBP was following Trump’s executive order.
“This analysis by the OIG seems to overlook repeatedly that DHS, again as part of the Executive Branch, operates under the direction of the president,” Crumpacker wrote in the department’s official response per The Washington Times.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.