One Big Beautiful Bill will add $47 billion to border wall Southwest-border encounters once again were at record lows in April at just 12,035, according to the latest data compiled by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, recording record lows for the third month in a row. Overall, illegal immigration has been reduced from 559,009 […]
Already an Subcriber? Log in
Get Instant Access to This Article
Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.
- Critical Central New York business news and analysis updated daily.
- Immediate access to all subscriber-only content on our website.
- Get a year's worth of the Print Edition of The Central New York Business Journal.
- Special Feature Publications such as the Book of Lists and Revitalize Greater Binghamton, Mohawk Valley, and Syracuse Magazines
Click here to purchase a paywall bypass link for this article.
One Big Beautiful Bill will add $47 billion to border wall
Southwest-border encounters once again were at record lows in April at just 12,035, according to the latest data compiled by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, recording record lows for the third month in a row. Overall, illegal immigration has been reduced from 559,009 in the period from February through April 2024 to just 34,762 in 2025 since President Donald Trump took office, a drop of 94 percent. It’s the lowest ever on record in data dating all the way back to 2000. The swift change came as President Trump declared a national-border emergency on Jan. 20 under the National Emergencies Act, immediately deployed the military to the border, resuming construction of the southern border wall, declaring gangs and drug cartels to be terrorist organizations, and expediting their removal under the Alien Enemy Act and by the Attorney General. Now, more help is on the way after the passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of President Trump’s signature legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, by a slim 215-214 vote on May 22. The vote came two days after President Trump rallied House Republicans in a closed-door meeting to get the bill across the finish line. Trump closed the deal. One item that probably didn’t hurt was it adds $46.5 billion of critical border wall and other barrier construction funds. When Paul Ryan was House Speaker the American people couldn’t get him to add two bricks to the wall in 2017. The bill also adds another $4.1 billion to hire more Border Patrol agents, $2 billion for retention and signing bonuses, $1 billion for more inspection equipment, and $2.7 billion for more surveillance equipment. The President is always the most powerful when he has Congress’ backing, and so it is with securing the southern border that the enfeebled former President Joe Biden left open on purpose to flood the country with millions of illegal-alien refugees. According to data compiled by U.S. Border Patrol encounters and the Office of Field Operations inadmissibles by the Office of Immigration Statistics, there were some 10.8 million border encounters all told from January 2021 to November 2024. Now, the House has done its part to secure the border, with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act headed to the Senate and President Trump hoping to sign the bill into law by July 4. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R–La.), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R–S.D.) and President Trump all campaigned on securing the border, and soon they’ll be able to show they got it done in Congress. Stay tuned.Robert Romano is the executive director of Americans for Limited Government, a conservative 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that says it is dedicated to restoring constitutionally limited government, allowing individuals to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.