Three years ago, Joe Biden vowed that, if elected, he'd never erect a single new section of border wall between the United States and Mexico. Now, President Biden has rethought that, due to an "acute" need to keep illegal immigration at bay. The AP reports the commander in chief has waived 26 federal laws—including the Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and Endangered Species Act—to clear the way for up to 20 miles of new wall construction in the Lone Star State, a first for the Biden administration.
"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," reads a Thursday announcement from the Department of Homeland Security. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas adds, per the AP: "There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States."
The portion of Starr County that's being targeted is part of a Border Patrol sector that's seen "high illegal entry" of migrants streaming in from Mexico. So far this fiscal year, more than 245,000 people have entered the US illegally in the Rio Grande Valley Sector of southeast Texas. The building of a border wall became a highly contentious issue during the Trump administration, when about 450 miles' worth of barriers were erected. Democrats "fiercely opposed" such wall construction, per the BBC, which notes that, per a Customs and Border Protection proposal, the barriers will consist of "large bollards embedded in a concrete base," in addition to gates, cameras, and CCTV gear.
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Funding will come from a 2019 congressional appropriation specifically for such barriers. The Biden administration had halted wall construction in January 2021, and some Democrats are still pushing back at such efforts. "A border wall is a 14th-century solution to a 21st-century problem," Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar said in a statement, per the AP. "It will not bolster border security in Starr County." Environmentalists are also angry at the move. "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," one conservation activist tells the BBC. (More border wall stories.)
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