💸 Trump border wall: $15B allocated, 47 new miles, CNN says

Kennedy family members are asking a judge to block Trump's Arlington memorial arch, according to today's reports, and that story has its own page on this site. The filing is not among the records read for this piece, so it is not characterized here. What can be checked is older: what happened when people tried to stop big federal construction, and who ended up holding the bill.

2013: Arlington, the trees and the finding

The Washington Post reported that the Army Corps of Engineers found the proposed Arlington National Cemetery expansion, in an area with nearly 900 trees, would have no significant adverse effect on the environment. The Corps said the cemetery could go ahead and create about 30,000 new burial sites. Opponents had written about 100 letters to the Corps and enlisted Rep. James P. Moran and Sen. Timothy M. Kaine.

The Washington Examiner reported that Arlington County officials said they were unable to intervene to stop the clearing. Under the revised plan the cemetery would spare just 8 trees and cut 822. The Corps's draft finding put the removal at about 882 trees, with 600 trees and 500 shrubs to be planted in partial offset. The documents read show comment letters and political appeals. They do not show a lawsuit.

"It's a travesty. The whole process has been a farce,"

Bernard Berne, local activist who led the fight to save the trees, to The Washington Post

2019: the wall, the shutdown and the emergency

The New York Times reported on January 2, 2019 that Trump told a cabinet meeting "we're asking for $5.6" billion for the wall, while Democratic leaders said $1.3 billion was their highest offer. The Guardian reported that the shutdown that followed cost the US economy $6bn in lost productivity and business, according to S&P Global Ratings, more than the $5.7bn Trump had demanded and failed to get.

CNBC reported on February 15, 2019 that Congress passed only $1.375 billion for new bollard fencing on 55 miles of border. Trump then declared a national emergency to repurpose other funds. Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney described an $8 billion pot: the $1.375 billion from Congress, $600 million from Treasury forfeiture funds, $2.5 billion from military counter-narcotics money and $3.6 billion reprogrammed from military construction.

Trump said: "I expect to be sued." CNBC reported that California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said he planned legal action "very soon with sister states," and that the ACLU also planned to sue. Trump said he believed the administration would be "very successful in court." The Hill's headline records that the Senate later failed to override his veto of the resolution against the emergency declaration. The sources read do not say how the lawsuits themselves ended.

2021: what the money bought

CNN reported that as of January 8, 2021, 453 miles of border barriers had been built, 47 of them where no barrier had existed. Trump had promised Mexico would pay, but CNN said the US government spent billions in federal funds, with approximately $15 billion allocated per a January 2021 CBP report. FactCheck.org noted that fencing mostly went up where the federal government already owned the land, and that far less was built in parts of Texas where private landowners fought condemnation of their land in the courts.

The pattern the records show: opposition got comment periods, headlines and, in the wall's case, a fight over money. The bills were paid regardless. You will have to wait for the arch filing to see whether this one breaks the pattern. MissFortune will be checking the receipts.