Pentagon chief says $1 billion of funding shifted to border wall

YEREVAN, MARCH 26, ARMENPRESS. The U.S. Department of Defense shifted $1 billion to plan and build a 57-mile section of “pedestrian fencing”, roads and lighting along the border between the United States and Mexico, Reuters reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency last month in a bid to fund his promised border wall without congressional approval.

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said in a memo to Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen that the Department of Defense had the authority to support counter-narcotics activities near international boundaries, Reuters reported.

The 1 billion dollar worth construction will be carried out within the Yuma and El Paso sections of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan