The Trump administration is on track to build between 450 and 500 miles of new wall at the nation's border with Mexico by the end of 2020, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said Tuesday, while calling complaints that the work that is being done to replace already-existing sections of the border wall a "fallacy."
"Under President (Donald) Trump's leadership, we built 83 miles," Wolf told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "We have another 153 under construction and we are on track to build between 450 and 500 miles by the end of 2020."
He explained that the wall should be considered new construction because it marks a vast improvement.
"I would say if you are going to tear down a shack and build a five-or-six-bedroom house, you don't call that a replacement shack," said Wolf. "You call that a new house."
The new sections are 18-to-30 feet high, said Wolf, and give agents with the Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection "new abilities they have never had before. New wall, new construction, and we're getting on with it."
Meanwhile, Wolf said his first action while in office will be a push on sanctuary cities, as their policies endanger communities and make the jobs of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents more difficult.
"We heard from sheriffs, we heard from elected officials, and most importantly, we heard from angel families yesterday on the devastating effects the sanctuary policies have," Wolf said. "These are magnets and these are havens for criminals, and they make those communities less safe and not more safe. We need to call it out and describe what it really is, and that is it is causing these communities to be less secure and more dangerous."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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