Biden administration reverses course, clears way for new border wall

Scenes from migrants crossing concertina wire at the U.S.-Mexico Border and running towards the border wall

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The Biden administration has paved the way for the construction of a new wall along the southern border in Texas by waiving more than a dozen federal laws in a stark reversal of its previous stance on the physical barrier.

The Department of Homeland Security announced the plan to bypass long drawn-out environmental reviews in order to expedite border wall construction in Starr County, TX as the administration struggles to handle an ongoing migrant crisis that has strained local and federal resources.

The area where construction is planned has seen “high illegal entry,” according to authorities.

“There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas,” Alejandro Mayorkas, the DHS secretary, said in a notice posted on the US Federal Registry.

The Democratic administration is picking up where former President Donald Trump left off.

One of Trump’s biggest campaign promises was to build a wall along the US-Mexico border and his administration constructed about 450 miles of border barriers between 2017 and January 2021.

DHS’s decision to build more walls contradicts Biden’s previous promise to end the construction.

“Building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution,” Biden said in a proclamation to stop the building on Jan. 20, 2021.

US Customs and Border Protection argued that the planned construction, which could add up to 20 miles of barriers to the existing wall in the area, does not violate Biden’s proclamation.

“Congress appropriated fiscal year 2019 funds for the construction of border barrier in the Rio Grande Valley, and DHS is required to use those funds for their appropriated purpose,” CBP said in a statement.

“CBP remains committed to protecting the nation’s cultural and natural resources and will implement sound environmental practices as part of the project covered by this waiver.”

The laws waived by DHS include the Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and Endangered Species Act and several environmental advocates have raised concerns.

“A plan to build a wall through will bulldoze an impermeable barrier straight through the heart of that habitat,” Laiken Jordahl, a southwest conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, said Wednesday. “It will stop wildlife migrations dead in their tracks. It will destroy a huge amount of wildlife refuge land. And it’s a horrific step backward for the borderlands.”

Some Democrats also denounced the plans.

“A border wall is a 14th-century solution to a 21st-century problem. It will not bolster border security in Starr County,” Rep. Henry Cuellar said in a statement. “I continue to stand against the wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars on an ineffective border wall.”