“That amounts to over $200 for every American,” McCaskill wrote in a letter to the head of US Customs and Border Protection as quoted by The Hill media outlet.
McCaskill estimation comes from a closed-door briefing, where border officials revealed that Trump administration would request $2.6 billion from the 2018 budget to construct fewer than 75 miles of the wall bringing the cost to $36.6 million per mile with the total potential wall's length of 1,827 miles.
“It is concerning that the cost of construction could also be significantly higher, as the cost of acquiring land currently owned by private individuals was not included in the estimate,” she added.
Earlier in March, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said that the wall would take more than two years to construct.
The executive order on the construction of the US-Mexico border wall, a plan that was central to US President Donald Trump's campaign, was signed on January 25. During the campaign Trump said that Mexico would pay for the wall’s construction.