In late September, the Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded a $229 million contract for border wall construction in Starr County to SLSCO Ltd., a contractor that also built wall for the Trump administration and is presently doing so for Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Starr County, a largely rural and flood-prone area in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley with a few towns abutting the river, currently hosts just a few short stretches of border fencing. SLSCO is a Galveston-based firm run by a family of GOP political donors.
Biden’s decision to build roughly 20 miles of border wall in Starr County made international news early last month when DHS waived a suite of environmental and historic preservation laws in order to speed construction. The move suggested a stark departure from Biden’s promise, made during his 2020 campaign, that there would “not be another foot of wall” built on his watch. In reality, Biden continued building a shorter version of Trump’s wall in parts of South Texas and has been increasing the height of fencing in Friendship Park in Southern California. But last month marked the first time Biden used DHS’ sweeping waiver authority—a relic of a Bush-era act of Congress—and the Starr County project is the president’s most significant border wall undertaking to date.
The flurry of press coverage of the October 5 DHS waiver overlooked the fact that the administration had already issued a construction contract for the project about a week prior. Some trade publications stated no contractor had been identified. Under the Trump administration, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) typically issued press releases when wall contracts were awarded, but no press release appears to have been issued in this case. (A press release was issued in late June announcing the 20-mile project.) The Texas Observer located the contract on the website usaspending.gov, and a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesperson confirmed the contract and its purpose.
