President Donald Trump’s long-promised border wall—once the centerpiece of his political identity—has advanced at a glacial pace during his second term, with new reporting suggesting that internal bottlenecks inside the Department of Homeland Security are playing a major role.
According to a report by Axios, just 30 miles of border barriers have been started and completed since the beginning of Trump’s second term, far short of the administration’s stated goal of nearly 2,000 miles by 2029. The outlet also reported that contracts for roughly 200 additional miles of wall construction had been awarded but were still awaiting approval from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
An internal memo on border wall construction obtained by Axios indicated that at least three contracts in Texas still require Noem’s personal signoff. That claim was disputed by DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, who said there are “no border wall related contracts pending the Secretary” and noted that Noem reviewed more than a thousand border security contracts last year.
The competing accounts have raised fresh questions about Noem’s management style, particularly her policy requiring personal review and approval of any DHS contract exceeding $100,000. That rule has drawn scrutiny before. Reporting last year linked the requirement to a three-day delay in Federal Emergency Management Agency search-and-rescue deployments following catastrophic flooding in Central Texas that killed hundreds.
Separate reports have also suggested that roughly $1 billion in FEMA mitigation grants remain stalled, awaiting Noem’s review. FEMA operates under DHS, and delays in disaster response and preparedness funding have alarmed both Democrats and Republicans, especially in disaster-prone states.
Luis Ames, a local agricultural worker in San Luis, Arizona stands along the border wall that stretches across farmland bordering Mexico on Jan. 7, 2025.
The slowdown is especially striking given Trump’s renewed emphasis on border enforcement and his administration’s aggressive immigration crackdowns in cities across the country. Noem has become one of the most visible public defenders of those policies, frequently appearing in media to tout enforcement actions and promise tougher border security.
Behind the scenes, however, frustration appears to be mounting within Trump’s own party. Some Republican lawmakers have privately and publicly questioned whether Noem’s centralized control over contracting has created unnecessary paralysis during multiple crises, from border construction to disaster response. While there are growing calls in GOP circles for her removal, there is no indication the administration is currently planning to oust her.
