One of the central themes of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign was to not only build a border wall, but to make Mexico pay for it. The claim didn’t just become an applause line for Trump on the campaign trail, it was a call-and-response rallying cry.
But the Trump budget proposals revealed late Wednesday include $4.1 billion for the wall. Reuters reported that Trump was asking for $1.5 billion for the current fiscal year and another $2.6 billion for the 2018 budget year, which begins Oct. 1.
The money will come from U.S. taxpayers and not Mexico, which has made it clear that it’s not paying for the wall.
Earlier this year, Trump backed off his campaign promise and admitted that Americans would end up footing the bill, but claimed Mexico would “reimburse us for the cost of the wall.”
A report from the Department of Homeland Security estimated that the cost of the wall would be far higher than what Trump had promised on the campaign trail. Trump has said the wall would cost $12 billion, but Homeland Security estimated it would cost $21.6 billion and take three years to construct.
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