The Biden administration has reportedly returned $2 billion that had been set aside for the construction of former President Donald Trump's border wall.
As reported by CNN, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced on Friday that the funds would be returned to military projects after President Joe Biden signed an executive order demanding construction on the wall to cease.
The Biden administration will not be working to send back the billions of funds to the Pentagon so that they can be used for their initial purpose of military missions and functions. CNN reports that this will include returning military construction funds to "66 previously deferred projects in 11 states, 3 territories, and 16 countries".
The OMB has stated that the restored funds will be used for on-base schools, hangars, housing, and facilities.
Additionally, $79 million is set to be used for an elementary school for US military children in Germany, and another $10 million has been earmarked for a missile field expansion at Fort Greely in Alaska.
The announcement comes after Texas Governor Greg Abbott shared his plans to build "barriers" along the state's southern border with Mexico.
Abbot announced the project as part of a press conference at the "Border Security Summit" in Del Rio, and promised to delve into the logistics of the plan sometime in the near future.
"We have to build a border [wall]. I've been down here talking to the people in the Rio Grande Valley and the way they are being overrun is reprehensible," Abbott told Fox News on Thursday. "It's disastrous what the Biden administration has done."
"The ability to arrest will be enhanced by building border barriers. Some of these border barriers will be built immediately, and whenever anybody tries to modify, attempt, or get through any of these border barriers, that in itself is a crime for which they can be arrested," Abbott continued.
He went on to say: "President Trump had adequately secured our border. He had the 'Remain in Mexico' policy and began building the border wall and now suddenly all of that disappeared and […] it has led to a dramatic increase in the number of people coming across the border.
"But it's not just unaccompanied minors, it's people who are causing great damage and harm to the residents right here in Del Rio as well as up and down the entire border."
Per the US Customs and Border Protection, more than 340 miles of Trump's border wall have been built since 2019.
The OMB claims that some sections of the wall cost up to $46 million per mile.
Back in August of 2020, Biden vowed to end construction on the wall during an interview with journalists from the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
Biden stated: "There will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration.
"I'm going to make sure that we have border protection, but it's going to be based on making sure that we use the high-tech capacity to deal with it. And at the ports of entry - that's where all the bad stuff is happening."
