Cuccinelli goes on to propose “Mandatory appropriation for border wall system infrastructure.” (Project 2025, Section 2.2: Department of Homeland Security, Ken Cuccinelli, page 179, paragraph 4.) 

This is costly performative nonsense. First of all, it’s pointless to have a wall if you’re not going to man it, since ladders and shovels are things that exist, and second, if you’re going to man the border, you don’t need a wall – borders can be more efficiently manned with technology and numbers than with physical barriers. At least he’s not claiming erroneously that Mexico will pay for it. Quite simply, walls don’t work:

“The funneling of migrants to alternative routes points to one statistic that correlates closely with the construction of more walls: an increase in the number of deaths.” [Source]¹.

From the same source: “Despite these clear material impacts on the lives of migrants, millions of people globally continue to cross borders without authorization—meaning walls are relatively ineffective.”

“If walls did not work in the past and today only work to divert, not prevent, migrant flows—while simultaneously having a grave human cost—why have so many gone up in the past 30 years? They are effective as symbols that demonstrate that politicians are doing something to address the perceived threats brought by unauthorized movement.“ [Source]².

“This border wall, if built (at U.S. taxpayer expense), will probably have a lot in common with the 600 miles of barriers along the southern border already built under the 2006 Secure Fence Act. The project razed delicate environments³, trampled on long-standing property rights⁴, and cut communities in two⁵. It was also expensive and ineffective, not to mention ugly.” [Source]⁶

“The Bush administration bullied property owners, threatening to sue them if they did not “voluntarily” hand over the rights to their land. It offered no compensation for doing so. Thinking that they had no recourse, some people signed off, but others refused. The government then attempted to use eminent domain, a procedure Trump has long defended, to seize their property, but the lawsuits imposed serious delays—seven years in one case.” [Source].⁷

According to the Southern Border Community Coalition⁸, walls are “lethal, kill wildlife, cause flooding resulting in millions of dollars of damages to businesses, homes, and endangering residents’ lives, infringe on property rights, cost billions of taxpayer dollars to build and maintain, erode the rule of law, interfere with tribal sovereignty, and more.”

Here’s more about why walls don’t work⁹.

For Cuccinelli to argue that we need to MANDATE an estimated $21.6 BILLION dollars¹⁰ of taxpayer money to throw away on a project that will be not only ineffective, but actively harmful, is shameful. Moreover, “mandatory appropriation” is deliberately vague and quite likely would encompass forced government seizure of private lands in support of building a wall. If it’s “mandatory”, I’m guessing that they’re going to roundly ignore the Eminent Domain requirement that the landowner must be justly compensated, but the author (perhaps purposely) does not specify this.