Every inch of the border wall is vital to the safety of America, President Donald Trump said during a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Monday.

“And when you look at what’s happening with human trafficking — and it’s mostly women — they traffic in women, and they pour through our borders,” he commented. “Well, every inch of wall that we put up is vital, and we’re putting up miles and miles. And we intend by next year, at the end of the year, to have anywhere between four hundred and five hundred miles of wall built.”

The president said Democrats do not want to discuss issues regarding the border with him because “they want to have open borders; they want to have drugs pouring into our country.” He said, “You have to have a wall, and you have to stop it.”

Breitbart News reported that as of July, there have been 52 miles of border wall constructed to replace existing barriers, and officials expect the construction of 25 miles of new wall on new land — that is, land which is currently vacant — to begin this year.

On Tuesday, Breitbart News reported that the Pentagon said it will use $3.6 billion in funds allocated by Congress and meant for other projects to build 11 sections of the proposed southern border wall.

However, Democrats have come out against the funding that would help to curb the trafficking of drugs and illegal migrants into the United States, according to the report.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized the move in a statement, calling the wall “ineffective” and “wasteful.”

Breitbart News reported on Wednesday that Defense Secretary Mark Esper informed Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-OK) in a letter that the funds were “necessary,” adding that “These projects will deter illegal entry, increase the vanishing time of those illegally crossing the border, and channel migrants to ports of entry.”

On July 23, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Mike Matzke told Breitbart News that although a few miles of wall may not seem like a lot to some, it has increased their safety and enabled them to perform their jobs better.

“We are safer and our objectives are much easier to meet,” he commented.