The pentagon is diverting up to a billion dollars to build fencing along the southern border.
The 18-foot-high fencing would cover 57 miles, in Yuma, Arizona, and El Paso, Texas, along the border with mexico.
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, signed off on the plan, authorizing the Army Corps of Engineers to get to work.
Shanahan says the focus is to block “drug smuggling corridors”.
Both the El Paso and Yuma sectors are reporting big jumps in illegal border crossings with El Paso now second only to the Rio Grande Valley.
Many of those crossing are said to be families from Central America seeking asylum.
