DHS Sec Mullin says border wall to be finished by summer 2027, slams comparisons of Delaney Hall to NJ state prisons

Testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday morning over the Department of Homeland Security’s fiscal year 227 budget request, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said that a primary border wall is expected to be fully constructed by the summer of 2027, with a secondary wall being completed the following summer.

Mullin told lawmakers, "On the border wall, first of all, we are on track to have the primary wall done, completed from the Pacific to Gulf of America this time next year. We'll have all contracts out by the end of this month. And we're having great progress."

He said that the primary wall "is the first wall up," and that because of the way that criminal cartel gangs adjust their actions, going and cutting holes in the wall, a secondary wall is being built. He said, "Before we can respond to some of these remote areas, they've been able to get through." 

He said that a secondary wall, which varies in design in some areas, is being built, in addition to a "smart wall." The so-called smart wall, he said, "will tell us approximately how many people are there, if they're carrying a pack, they're not carrying a pack. The smart wall is pretty, pretty impressive, we can put a drone in the sky to immediately keep eyes on them."

President Donald Trump had campaigned heavily during his first campaign on building a border wall between the US and Mexico, an action that was halted by the Biden administration. Near the end of the Biden administration, the Biden administration was reportedly auctioning off building materials from the project. A judge later blocked the administration from selling the materials.

Upon returning to the White House, Trump signed a sweeping executive order declaring a national emergency at the southern border, which directed agencies to take action to construct physical barriers at the border, and revoked a day-one Biden executive order that had terminated the southern border emergency declaration issued under Trump’s first term. 

Mullin was also questioned about the conditions at the Delaney Hall detention facility in New Jersey, which has made headlines in recent days over ongoing protests and unrest outside regarding what protestors call inhumane conditions in which detainees are being held.

He specifically noted the examples of the Garden State Youth Correctional Facility, which he said has received citations for infestations of rodents and insects, standing water and expired fire extinguishers, and the Northern State Penitentiary, which has violations for flooding and raw sewage. "Not one of these individuals have ever protested about what’s happening in their own backyard."