Interior Department to transfer 560 acres of federal land to Army for border wall construction

The five parcels comprise land in Arizona, California and New Mexico, the department said, and will be used to construct 70 miles of border barrier.

"In addition to the national security, humanitarian, and related values impacted by unlawful border crossing, emergency measures are necessary to preserve natural resource values," Casey Hammond, an acting assistant interior secretary, said on a conference call with reporters.

The department's announcement of the land transfer comes the same day President Donald Trump toured a section of border wall in California as part of a fundraising trip. The visit and Trump's praise for the wall signal that border security will be a cornerstone of his reelection bid, as it was in 2016.

Hammond said the transfer is in the Interior Department's interest because people illegally crossing the border in the area "create new roads, damage native vegetation, disturb wildlife, and generate tons of garbage and human waste."

The land is currently held by the Bureau of Land Management, the department said. It has previously transferred land for "various other" projects but never for border barrier construction.

Trump claimed Wednesday that "we're building a lot of wall," as he has repeatedly since taking office. In fact, no new sections of wall have been built along the southern border where some form of barrier didn't already exist.

The Department of Defense is diverting an estimated $3.6 billion in military construction funds to help build the wall, even though Trump repeatedly claimed that Mexico would foot the bill.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon released the full list of 127 military construction projects that will lose funds in order to help construct 175 miles of southern border wall.

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