HOUSTON, April 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Border Patrol agents on Monday announced the beginning of a section of barrier construction on the southern border with Mexico.
The existing fence on the border with Mexico in El Paso, Texas, will be replaced by a new barrier, said Agent Aaron A. Hull, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol's El Paso sector at the groundbreaking ceremony.
"This is the beginning, in this sector, of the president's border wall," he said, adding that the project will include 32 km-long wall up to 9.1 meters tall, extending west from Santa Teresa, New Mexico.
Hull said the new construction was mandated by U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration in January 2017, which will take about a year to complete and cost more than 73 million U.S. dollars from 2017 Department of Homeland Security funding.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration has told U.S. Congress that it wants 18 billion U.S. dollars over the next decade for the initial phase of a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Half of the around 3,300-km border between the two nations would have a border wall or other fences by 2027 if the work was completed.
Last month, Trump signed a 1.3 trillion spending bill unveiled by the Congress and passed by the House, but the bill only provides 1.6 billion dollars -- far short of what the Trump administration has sought -- for border security measures, including construction of a border wall with Mexico.