DHS marks a border wall milestone

400 miles of barrier now completed

MCALLEN, Tex. (KYMA, KECY) - The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) celebrated a major milestone Thursday for President Donald Trump's trademark border wall. 400 miles of the barrier are now complete.

DHS Acting Secretary Chad Wolf joined U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for a ceremony in McAllen, Texas to commemorate the completion.

Wolf said he sees the wall as an important weapon on the war to secure America's borders.

"I hope that anyone that is in charge of DHS or Border Patrol in the years to come, whereever they are, listen to the men and women on the ground, what are the tools that you need? As I often say, we give our men and women in uniform the very best tools to fight our adversaries overseas. there's absolutely no reason that we shouldn't do that for the men and women of the Border Patrol." said Wolf.

Of the 400 miles of "new wall," 350 miles of replaces what the administration calls "outdated barriers." The new sections are both taller and stronger. They're built with concrete-filled steel.

So far the project has used more than 556,000 tons of steel, and 797,000 cubic yards of concrete.