No border wall likely from 'sea to shining sea,' homeland security chief says
WASHINGTON _ The Trump administration won't attempt to build a barrier along the entire length of the nation's 2,000-mile border with Mexico, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Wednesday.
"It's unlikely we will build a wall or physical barrier from sea to shining sea," he told the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
The pledge to build a wall was the cornerstone of Donald Trump's campaign for president, with Trump declaring "I will build a great, great wall on our southern border and I'll have Mexico pay for that wall."
Yet Wednesday, no Republican fully defended Trump's position. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., suggested a wall could be defined several ways, such as having drones, towers, fences and technology to detect tunnels. Trump is proposing that Congress spend $4.1 billion to begin construction on a border wall with Mexico.
Kelly said Wednesday that some sort of wall would be built but he did not have an estimate of how much it will cost U.S. taxpayers and exactly where it would go.
Border agents will be consulted on the location, he said.
"We'll do it where it makes sense and what makes sense," Kelly said. "There's no determination right now what this thing will look like and how long it will be."
Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, the committee's top Democrat, said Trump needs to acknowledge there won't be a Mexican-funded wall stretching across the southern border.
"It's embarrassing, it's not going to happen. Everybody in Congress knows it's not going to happen, every Republican knows it, every Democrat knows it. It makes no sense," McCaskill said.
She questioned Kelly on whether Trump is aware "we're not going to build a 2,000-mile concrete wall."
Trump is aware and is looking at the options, Kelly said.
"I have no doubt when I go back to him and say, boss, '(the) wall makes sense here, high tech fencing makes sense over here, technology makes sense over here, I have no doubt he will go tell me to do it,"" Kelly said.
_McClatchy Washington Bureau
