Kristi Noem Signs Waiver for Texas Border Wall Construction
Washington. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem signed a waiver Tuesday to ensure the expeditious construction of approximately five miles of new, 30-foot-high border wall in Starr and Hidalgo counties in the Texas Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector.
“These miles are part of an existing contract for the border wall, which is already under construction, using U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Fiscal Year 2019 appropriations. This is the seventh waiver signed by Secretary Noem for border barrier construction projects along the southern border,” the statement said.
The Secretary’s (Noem) waiver authority allows DHS to waive any legal requirement, including environmental laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act, to ensure the expeditious construction of physical barriers and roads.
“Projects implemented under this waiver are crucial steps to securing the southern border and strengthening our commitment to border security,” the agency argued.
“These funds will be used to construct a combination of primary and secondary border walls, river barriers, patrol roads, and the technology necessary to integrate them all, such as cameras, lights, and sensors. This will provide agents with the information and situational awareness needed to respond to irregular activity, as well as the access, mobility, impedance, and denial attributes necessary for successful interdiction,” the text adds.
Currently, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has approximately 100 miles of new border barrier in various stages of construction and planning, funded by prior-year appropriations. Additionally, CBP received $46.5 billion for the construction of the border barrier system through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HR 1), signed by President Trump on July 4, 2025.
The waiver was issued pursuant to Section 102 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.
-
Sheinbaum Says the 152 Hospital Projects Planned for the Six-Year Term Advance, with an Investment of 181 Billion Pesos
Of the 152 projects, 50 are brand-new hospitals; the plan adds 13,300 census beds by 2030, more than triple the neoliberal era’s 4,300.
-
Colossal Archaeological Exhibition of Mesoamerica Amazes in China
Nearly 3,000 pre-Hispanic relics, 804 of them from Mexico, fill the Shanghai Museum in Asia’s largest such show since 2001, drawing 10,000 visitors a day.
-
FDA Corrects Itself: Mexican Lettuce Did Not Cause ‘Explosive Diarrhea’ Outbreak; It Was a ‘False Positive’
The FDA apologized to Taylor Farms after wrongly blaming Guanajuato-grown lettuce supplied to Taco Bell for an outbreak; no positive samples were confirmed.
