U.S. Wall Funding of $1.57 Billion Yields 1.7 Miles of Fence

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection has put up just 1.7 miles of fencing with the $1.57 billion that Congress appropriated last year for President Donald Trump’s wall along the Mexican border, a federal judge was told.

A lawyer for the U.S. House of Representatives provided the information Tuesday to the judge in Oakland, California, who is weighing requests from 20 state attorneys general and the the Sierra Club to block Trump from using funds not authorized by Congress to build the wall.

"The administration recently provided updated information to Congress on the status of its efforts as of April 30, 2019," the attorney, Douglas Letter, said in a court filing. "Based on that updated information, it appears that CBP has now constructed 1.7 miles of fencing with its fiscal year 2018 funding."

That was 3/4 of a mile more than the administration reported at the end of February, Letter said.

U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam had asked for the information at a May 17 hearing.

A Customs and Border Protection official said the agency can’t comment on pending litigation.

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