President Donald Trump plans to divert an additional $7.2 billion in Pentagon funds for his long-promised border wall, reports The Washington Post.
The Trump administration Friday touted the 100th mile of border wall to be built since the president took office in 2017, a project partly funded by military construction and other federal funds after Trump declared a national emergency last February to divert the amount.
Congress only provided a portion of the $5.7 billion the president wanted for the barrier.
The administration will take $3.7 billion from military construction funding and $3.5 billion from counter-drug programs, according to the Post. The figures last year were $3.6 billion and $2.5 billion, respectively.
The president promised 450 new miles of border wall by the end of 2020.
The U.S. government is still facing roadblocks, as opponents have lobbied Congress to limit funding and prevent construction in areas like the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, and landowners have battled government seizure of their property.
Even on land the government owns, construction has been held up. In another federal wildlife refuge, at a site known as La Parida Banco, work crews cleared brush this spring and the government announced in April that construction would soon begin. Eight months later, the site remains empty.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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