While state and federal governments scramble for medical equipment, the Trump administration is spending billions of dollars on the border wall
By Curt Prendergast | Arizona Daily Star
Democratic lawmakers in Arizona and other states are calling for the Trump administration to stop spending billions of dollars on the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border during the coronavirus pandemic.
The money being spent on the border wall should instead go toward fighting the coronavirus and providing basic services in border communities where poverty is widespread and health care is relatively scarce, Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a Democrat who represents much of the border region in southern Arizona, said on a press call Friday.
So far, $2.8 billion has been allocated to build 137 miles of wall near Tucson, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. Hundreds of millions dollars more will be spent to build roughly 100 miles of wall near Yuma. All told, federal officials plan to spend at least $15 billion to build hundreds of miles of wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
