The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, revealed on May 7, 2026, that the southern border wall, or at a minimum, its first layer, would be completed by the middle of 2027. Construction on the project continues right alongside President Donald Trump’s major deportation operation in the United States.
Mullin went on to say that completing the first phase of the wall would provide an opportunity for the department to shift its focus and give greater attention to the northern border, where he revealed that large quantities of fentanyl are still entering the country. During his address, Mullin also took an opportunity to slam sanctuary states and cities for refusing to work with immigration enforcement agencies, stating that their policies are putting American lives in danger.
“When you start talking about the southern border, look, the president had made an initiative in his first term. He’s made it a strong initiative to finish the wall in his second term. We’re building miles of wall every single week,” the secretary said. “We expect to have the first preliminary wall put up, and that’s going to go from the Pacific to the Gulf of America by hopefully April or June of next year.”
“Now, we still have a secondary wall we’ve got to build with that, but will be done before the president’s out of office,” Mullin added. The secretary went on to explain that securing the southern border would enable DHS and the Trump administration to start tackling the fentanyl being shipped into the country. “So we’re taking care of our border, but as we take care of the southern border, it pushes pressure for the drugs and the human smuggling pushing it to the north,” he said, according to Townhall.
“And then just the huge threats we have every single day from chemical warfare that’s trying to get into our homeland, to our port of entry and the amount of fentanyl flying into our streets. And then our sanctuary states and our sanctuary cities has put everybody at risk because the bad actors, not just illegal immigrants, but bad actors that are wanted terrorists are using sanctuary cities and sanctuary states for safe haven,” the secretary stated.
“And without the cooperation of the politicians in that area, it limits our ability to be able to move forward and puts us at contrast. Listen, ICE agents and HSI agents are simply wanting to do their job. And most law enforcement we work with, even though cities want to do their job, but they have a governor or mayor that’s prohibiting from doing so,” Mullin further explained.
The announcement comes just one day after hundreds of federal agents made a sweep through MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, an area that has a well-earned reputation for being connected with drug activity. Dozens of arrests were made during the raid, with many being charged with drug-related crimes. Authorities also said that enough fentanyl was seized during the operation to potentially kill 200,000 Americans.
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In a clip of Mullin’s address shared on Facebook, one user commented, “After Biden sold untold millions of dollars of border wall for pennies on the dollar, that taxpayers paid for. Let’s finish it, then electrify it, add poison tainted razor wire, and inundate the wall areas with scorpions and rattlesnakes.” Another individual suggested installing “big guns” on top of the wall once construction is completed.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video