Great Wall of Mexico - Biden
Joe Biden promised he wouldn’t build “one more foot” of Donald Trump’s border wall. After his inauguration in January, Biden followed through, immediately halting construction on the wall and firing off a slew of executive orders to overturn Trump’s hardline immigration policies. As a senator, Biden voted in 2006 for the Secure Fence Act, which funded 650 miles of steel fencing and vehicle barriers along the border. The act passed both houses of Congress with bipartisan support, and was signed into law by George W. Bush that October. Biden said at the time that his vote did “not have anything to do with immigration,” but was aimed at stopping the flow of drugs across the border. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were also among the 26 Senate Democrats who backed the bill.
In an April 2021 meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that his department may restart construction, in order to fill in some “gaps in the wall.” That’s according to a readout of the meeting seen by the Washington Times, a conservative-leaning news site. According to the report, Mayorkas told the ICE officials that while no new wall will be built, the Biden administration can still work on “gaps,” “gates,” and areas “where the wall has been completed but the technology has not been implemented.” US Border Patrol officials reportedly presented Mayorkas with the plan. These “gaps” are apparently hotspots for crossing attempts, according to recent reports.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a notice in the Federal Register 05 October 2023 "The Secretary of Homeland Security has determined, pursuant to law, that it is necessary to waive certain laws, regulations, and other legal requirements in order to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads in the vicinity of the international land border in Starr County, Texas....
"Congress has provided to the Secretary of Homeland Security a number of authorities necessary to carry out DHS’s border security mission. One of those authorities is section 102 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, as amended (“IIRIRA”).... In section 102(a) of IIRIRA, Congress provided that the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take such actions as may be necessary to install additional physical barriers and roads (including the removal of obstacles to detection of illegal entrants) in the vicinity of the United States border to deter illegal crossings in areas of “high illegal entry” into the United States. In section 102(b) of IIRIRA, Congress called on the Secretary to construct reinforced fencing on the southwest border and provide for the installation of additional fencing, barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors on the southwest border....
"The United States Border Patrol’s (Border Patrol) Rio Grande Valley Sector is an area of “high illegal entry.” As of early August 2023, Border Patrol had encountered over 245,000 such entrants attempting to enter the United States between ports of entry in the Rio Grande Valley Sector in Fiscal Year 2023.... Therefore, DHS will take immediate action to construct barriers and roads. Construction will be funded by a fiscal year 2019 appropriation through which Congress appropriated funds for the construction border barrier in the Rio Grande Valley, and DHS is required to use those funds for their appropriated purpose. This project is consistent with DHS’s plan to fulfill the requirements of President Biden’s Proclamation (Proclamation No. 10142, 86 Fed. Reg. 7225 (Jan. 20, 2021)), which ended the diversion of funds for border wall from military projects or other sources while calling for the expenditure of any funds Congress appropriated for barrier construction consistent with their appropriated purpose...."
Illegal immigration had become a major political headache for Biden, with opposition Republicans accusing him of lax border policies. Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said the Biden administration move showed "I was right when I built 560 miles... of brand new, beautiful border wall." Trump said on his Truth Social platform "Will Joe Biden appolgize (sic) to me and America for taking so long to get moving, and allowing our country to be flooded with 15 million illegals immigrants, from places unknown".
Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Biden had vowed during his presidential campaign he would "never build 'another foot of wall' along the southern border." "Now, Biden is fast-tracking the construction of approximately 20 miles of new wall," Blackburn said. "Joe finally realized walls work."
The Department of Homeland Security said some two dozen federal laws such as the Clean Air Act and Endangered Species Act would be waived to allow for the extension of the border wall. Laiken Jordahl, a conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, denounced the plan. "It's disheartening to see President Biden stoop to this level, casting aside our nation's bedrock environmental laws to build ineffective wildlife-killing border walls," Jordahl said in a statement.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the construction of new sections of the wall would be a move in the wrong direction. "This authorization for the construction of the wall is a step backwards," Lopez Obrador told a press conference ahead of talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior US officials in Mexico City.
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