With President Trump continuing to talk up his long-promised wall across the border with Mexico, the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general on Wednesday unveiled a multi-pronged plan to examine obstacles to securing the Southern frontier.
John Roth took the opportunity at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on the government’s programs most at risk of waste and abuse to announce several coming audits prompted by the new administration’s domestic security agenda.
He also spoke five days after a DHS document leaked to the Reuters news agency suggested that building a 1,250-mile southern wall by the end of 2020 could cost $21.6 billion, or nearly twice previous estimates, and would be inhibited by mountainous terrain along the route.
