During his first term, one of President Donald Trump’s leading campaign issues, the construction of a “big, beautiful wall” along the U.S. southern border with Mexico, faced much political opposition and judicial frustration.

By the end of his first term, the Trump administration had only managed to construct roughly 80 miles of new border wall, as much of the energy was focused on updating the 500 miles of existing barrier.

While Trump’s dream of a southern wall did not end, it was far less of a focus during his third presidential campaign, as he focused more on tackling the massive problem of millions of illegal aliens who entered the country through Joe Biden’s wide-open border.

It didn’t take long for Trump to turn things around. As he put it, “all we really needed was a new president.” Illegal border crossings dropped to record lows within just a couple of months and have since stabilized at those record lows. For perspective, more illegal crossings occurred in one month under Biden than under Trump this entire past year.

The primary focus of the country and media when it comes to illegal immigration has been on the efforts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest, detain, and deport criminal illegal aliens. And this is due to the tremendous success of the Trump administration’s actions on shutting down the border.

So, what about that wall? Is it still a priority?

The answer is yes. It remains a priority for the Trump administration, and its construction is progressing rapidly, likely much faster than many Americans realize.

Thanks to the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, $46.5 billion has been allocated to funding the construction of the southern border wall. Thus far, the Trump administration has awarded contracts totaling upwards of $22 billion to construction crews.

This has produced a barrier-construction rate of roughly three miles of wall completed per week. The Department of Homeland Security aims to construct more than 1,350 miles of border wall. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol also plans to install 500 miles of water barriers, such as buoys, and smart surveillance technology along the entire wall.

CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott explained last month, “This border wall actually makes every single agent more effective. Every investment we make in infrastructure and technology across all of CBP lets the actual agent, the human being, do things that only the human being can do.”

A border barrier always made sense, despite those who pooh-poohed the concept as archaic — often from behind their own private walls. It also makes sense for the future, as the Biden administration thoroughly demonstrated that a future administration may not prevent people from illegally entering, instead throwing out the welcome mat. But welcome mats only work for openings, which the Trump administration is quickly closing up.

Of course, the latest complaint from those opposed to a physical border wall is the supposed negative environmental impact of the wall across the land. The Washington Post cites environmental advocates who claim the wall threatens endangered species. (Yeah, like a certain kind of coyote.)

That concern is interesting given that the same environmentalists advocate a much more problematic, land-consuming, and supposedly green renewable energy industry. How many birds, whales, and other animals will have to die before these folks call for ending the installation of massive wind and solar farms? Furthermore, these renewables have proven to be less efficient and more costly than fossil-fuel-based power plants.

Back to Trump’s border wall, it will help control not only illegal immigration, but also criminal cartel activity. It will help keep Americans safer. That’s a reality we are far too often reminded of every time an illegal alien is found to have murdered an innocent victim, such as the Loyola University Chicago student Sheridan Gorman, who was murdered this past Sunday by a Venezuelan illegal alien. As Democrat Senator John Fetterman pointed out in chastising his own party, “Why can’t we just talk about that life lost? Why can’t we just acknowledge that this is a serious, serious failure?” He added, “Why can’t you just agree that if you’re breaking the law and you’re already here illegally, deport them?”

Gorman, Laken Riley, and many other victims are why building that border wall matters. It’s first and foremost about our federal government doing its job to protect Americans. And thankfully, Trump understands that and is getting the job done.