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AUSTIN, Texas 鈥� Texas has stopped putting new money toward construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall, shifting course after installing only a fraction of the hundreds of miles of potential barrier that聽Republican Gov. Greg Abbott聽set out to construct聽four years ago.

State lawmakers this month approved a new Texas budget that does not include continued funding for the wall, which had been a multibillion-dollar priority for Abbott as part of a sprawling immigration crackdown. He even took the unusual step of聽soliciting private donations聽for construction, saying in 2021 that many Americans wanted to help.

On Tuesday, Abbott’s office said President Donald Trump’s聽aggressive efforts to curb immigration聽allowed the state to adjust.

The halt in funding was first reported聽by The Texas Tribune.

鈥淭hanks to President Trump’s bold leadership, the federal government is finally fulfilling its obligation to secure the southern border and deport criminal illegal immigrants,鈥� Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said. 鈥淏ecause of these renewed federal assets in Texas, our state can now adjust aspects of state-funded border security 别蹿蹿辞谤迟蝉.鈥�

The state has completed 65 miles of border wall since construction began. The Texas border with Mexico is roughly 1,200 miles.

The wall has gone up at a slow pace as the state has navigated the drawn-out process of buying private land and confronting local opposition in some places. Abbott announced plans for the wall at a time when large numbers of migrants were showing up at the border, saying in 2021 that he believed a combination of state-owned land and volunteered private property would 鈥測ield hundreds of miles to build a border wall.鈥�

The number of migrant crossings has聽fallen dramatically聽this year.

鈥淭here was no need for it in the first place,鈥� said Scott Nicol, a board member of Friends of the Wildlife Corridor, a habitat preservation group in the Rio Grande Valley. He has described the wall as ineffective.

鈥淭he only thing that’s changed is the political dynamic,鈥� he said.

The new budget approved by Texas lawmakers allocates about $3.4 billion for border security for two years. That amount will not be used to build out new projects for the wall and instead go to the Texas Department of Safety and the Texas National Guard, the main agencies responsible for Operation Lone Star, Abbott’s key immigration program launched in 2021 during the Biden administration.

The money allocated for border security is nearly half the $6.5 billion that was dedicated to immigration efforts the last time lawmakers earmarked the state budget two years ago.

Funds previously allocated for the wall will allow work on it to continue through 2026 and 鈥渨ill set the federal government up for success,鈥� said Republican Sen. Joan Huffman, the lead budget writer in the state Senate.

The agency responsible for constructing the wall has about $2.5 billion remaining in funding to cover up to 85 additional miles of the wall by 2026, according to a statement made in April by Texas Facilities Commission Executive Director Mike Novak, whose agency is overseeing construction.

鈥淭his wall should have never been built; it’s useless,鈥� said Bekah Hinojosa, co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network. 鈥淚t divides our community.鈥�