The Trump administration has completed just 20 miles of border wall construction after 28 months in office, according to a report from a Homeland Security Department agency.
Although Donald Trump's chief spokeswoman says between 100 and 115 miles of the president's long-promised wall are finished and the total will grow to 500 next year, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection 'Border Wall Status' report dated May 20 is less optimistic.
The report, obtained by DailyMail.com, suggests 336 miles of border barrier have been funded during Trump's presidency, and about 6 per cent of it is done so far.
Overall, just 110 miles of walls reflected in CBP's report consist of 'new' barriers where the U.S.-Mexico border has previously been open to vehicle and foot traffic. The rest are 'updated' wall sections – barriers that are being either repaired or replaced.
When a 'Fox & Friends' host asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders on Wednesday how much of the wall is finished, she replied: 'There's over 100 miles. I think it's close to 115 miles.'
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Nearly all of the documented border wall construction the Trump administration has engaged in so far has consisted of replacing some existing barriers and reinforcing others with secondary fencing
Sanders also claimed the government is 'on track to get close to 500 miles built by the end of the year.' She told DailyMail.com Wednesday afternoon that she misspoke, and should have said 'next year.' That would agree with President Trump's boast during a Pennsylvania rally on Monday.
The unsigned CBP report doesn't suggest any way the administration could be planning for 500 miles of wall-building. In all, it says, about $6.1 billion in funding is in place – enough to build 'approximately 336 total miles.'
According to a chart in the report, they consists of 86 miles of 'new primary wall' and 24 miles of 'new levee wall.' Also included are 68 miles of 'updated primary wall,' 144 miles of 'updated vehicle wall' and 14 miles of 'updated secondary wall.'
A White House spokesperson disputed the 'incorrect' numbers reflected in CBP's report on Wednesday and promised to provide additional data. That information did not come.
CBP breaks down the sources of funding that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is using for construction contracts into three buckets.
The first two, adding to '255 miles of new and updated border barriers,' are regular congressional appropriations and money shifted over from a Treasury Department fund that's flush with cash from the sale of forfeited assets like cars and real estate.
A separate Defense Department program that will build walls to block narcotics traffickers, according to CBP, will contribute another 131 miles of barriers.
Adding to the confusion, those numbers total 386 miles, not 336.
Regardless, the report opens with a conclusion that 'approximately 255 miles of new and updated border barriers have been funded' since Trump took office 'through the traditional appropriations process and via Treasury Forfeiture Funding.'
And of that total, '20 miles have been completed to date.'
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection report on the status of border wall construction, dated Monday, lays out how little progress – 20 miles – has been made on the project that turned Donald Trump into an immigration-hawk hero; despite claims from the president and Sarah Sanders that 500 miles will be built by next year, CSP only has a funding plan for 336
One wrinkle in the report spells out how nearly 40 miles were built with money appropriated by Congress for the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2017; since those miles weren't included in the results from the Trump era, it appears they were built before he was president
Later in the report, the agency reports completing 'approximately 39.5' of 40 miles funded for the 2017 fiscal year.
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