The U.S. government has begun erecting an 11-kilometer (seven-mile) “secondary” border wall in the desert south of Santa Teresa, New Mexico, reinforcing an existing steel-mesh fence that runs opposite Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Aerial and drone images taken on 17 July show construction crews installing taller steel bollards along a corridor frequently used by smugglers, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem approved the project last month as part of a broader order fast-tracking roughly 58 kilometers of additional barriers in Arizona and New Mexico. The agency says the secondary wall is designed to close gaps, slow illegal crossings and improve agents’ “operational control” in a sector where nearly 40,000 migrants were apprehended in the fiscal year through April—78 percent fewer than the same period a year earlier. The new construction, funded under existing appropriations first allocated during President Donald Trump’s earlier term, marks the administration’s latest move to harden the southern border after record migrant flows in 2024. CBP did not disclose a completion date, but officials said work would continue around the clock to finish the New Mexico segment before crews shift to sites in Arizona.