How much of the U.S. southern border wall is completed as of December 2025?
Executive summary
As of the most recent reporting in these sources, the United States has an established baseline of several hundred miles of barrier built before 2025 and multiple new projects initiated since January 20, 2025 — including "more than 80 miles" of new projects initiated and at least 83 miles of traditional wall plus 17 miles of waterborne barriers reported as being under construction or planned — while federal agencies and Congress authorized large new funding streams to expand construction [1] [2] [3]. Exact total completed mileage for "the wall" as of December 2025 is not presented as a single definitive number across the available documents; sources give piece‑counts, project starts, contracts and program goals rather than a unified, up‑to‑date completed‑miles total [4] [3] [5].
1. What the federal data and officials say: project starts, contracts and new funding
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the White House materials in these sources describe an active restart and scaling up of construction after January 20, 2025. CBP’s public materials note the Smart Wall Map tracks barriers built prior to that date and new work planned, under construction or completed since then, and the administration says it has initiated "more than 80 miles of new permanent border barrier projects" and that 83 miles of traditional wall plus 17 miles of waterborne barriers were in planning or under construction using earlier funds [4] [1] [2]. Congressional action — the One Big Beautiful Bill — provided about $46.5 billion earmarked for Smart Wall construction, which agencies say will be used to add primary wall, secondary layers, waterborne barriers and system attributes [6] [3].
2. What contractors and press releases add: concrete contracts and local mileages
CBP announced discrete construction contracts and waivers in 2025, including a contract to Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. for approximately 27 miles in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, and multiple waivers intended to speed projects. State and agency press releases therefore document specific sections under contract or being built even while national aggregate totals remain scattered across documents [5] [3].
3. Independent trackers and fact‑checkers: numbers that help but don’t fully close the gap
Independent outlets and fact‑checkers cite CBP claims. PolitiFact reported the administration’s statement that "since January 20, 2025, CBP has initiated more than 80 miles" of new permanent barrier projects across multiple sectors [1]. The White House summary repeated similar figures and noted 83 miles of traditional wall and 17 miles of waterborne barriers in planning or construction using leftover funds [2]. Those figures document starts and planning, not a single authoritative completed‑miles ledger as of December 2025 [2] [1].
4. State and local programs: Texas numbers that complicate a national tally
Texas’ state program publishes its own mileages for the state’s wall program — for example reporting 54.6 miles completed by January 16, 2025 and 66.4 miles by June 18, 2025 — but those numbers refer to the state program and do not simply fold into a single federal total without careful reconciliation [7]. State counts, federal counts, pre‑2025 construction (including hundreds of miles built in earlier administrations) and post‑January 2025 projects are tracked on different timetables.
5. Why a single "completed" number is elusive
Sources show multiple overlapping categories: barriers constructed prior to January 20, 2025; projects initiated or "completed" since that date per CBP’s Smart Wall Map; miles "under construction" or "in planning"; state program completions; and planned multi‑year goals tied to the $46.5 billion appropriation [4] [3] [6]. Available reporting in these documents lists discrete mileages for new starts and contracts but does not publish a single consolidated national completed‑miles figure as of December 2025. Therefore a precise nationwide completed‑miles total for "the wall" on that date is not found in the provided sources [4] [2] [1].
6. Competing perspectives and implicit agendas
Federal press materials emphasize progress, operational control and large funding to justify rapid construction and waivers of environmental laws; these institutional sources (White House, DHS, CBP) present initiation and contracting as evidence of momentum [2] [3] [8]. Independent trackers and state agencies corroborate many mileages but also show variation by sector and program, and advocacy groups and environmental litigants (not fully excerpted in these search results) have signaled legal challenges to some projects — an implicit counterweight that can delay completion [6] [1]. These competing narratives reflect political priorities: the administration and DHS prioritize speed and security messaging; environmental and civil‑rights advocates emphasize legal process and ecological impacts [6] [3].
7. Bottom line for readers
Available sources document substantial activity: hundreds of miles of barrier existed before 2025, over 80 miles of new projects were initiated since January 20, 2025, and specific contracts (for example roughly 27 miles in Arizona) and planning for dozens more miles were announced; Congress provided $46.5 billion to expand the program [1] [5] [3] [6]. However, these documents do not present a single, authoritative national "completed miles as of December 2025" figure — a consolidated total is not found in current reporting provided here [4] [2].