Administration awards almost $1 billion in contracts for border wall

The Defense Department said Tuesday it has awarded $976 million in contracts to two companies for construction related to President Trump's long-sought border wall along the southern border with a completion date expected for October 2020.

Details: The agency said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers a $789 million contract was given to SLSCO Ltd., a company based in Galveston, Texas, for "border replacement wall construction" in Santa Teresa, New Mexico located in the El Paso sector of the border. Montana-based Barnard Construction Co. Inc. was awarded a $187 million contract for the "design-bid-build construction project for primary pedestrian wall replacement" in Yuma, Arizona. CNN reported that funds for the contracts are from the $1 billion the Pentagon recently said it has shifted from other military construction projects to build part of the barrier.