The Biden administration announced that it will resume the building of the U.S.-Mexico border wall as part of a plan initiated during the Trump administration. The federal government will need to purchase or seize private lands while ignoring environmental laws in order to follow through on its plan.
Just a day after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called for the construction of barriers and roads near the U.S. border, a DHS plan is now under way to build new border wall in Starr County, Texas, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The area for the new 20 miles of border wall was chosen in 2019 by Congress, which allotted $1.375 billion toward the construction. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Biden administration will be forced to use the remaining $190 million from the original funding package.
In total, President Biden's government will waive 26 federal laws to expedite the process. The decision will ignore environmental protection laws and safe drinking water and clean air laws, as well as restrictions surrounding endangered species. This was made possible by legislation called the Secure Fence Act from 2006. Biden is the first Democrat president to use it.
The pathway for the wall will also go through a wildlife refuge as well as private properties; the federal government will have to buy or seize that land.
In a post to Truth Social, President Trump asked President Biden for an apology.
"Will Joe Biden apologize 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. I will await his apology!"
The White House had been hammered with negative press from the border recently, with even tech mogul Elon Musk visiting the shocking scenes at Eagle Pass, Texas.
“So basically we’re seeing all-time highs and increasing [illegal immigration],” Musk said to a border official, and he was right.
Internal reports released at the same time showed a record number of monthly encounters with illegal immigrants at the southwest land border. The estimated 260,000 aliens were enough to push the fiscal year total for 2023 over 2.466 million, an all-time annual high.
The border saw 2.378 million illegal encounters in 2022, while 2021 was significantly lower at 1.734 million. President Trump's last year in office saw comparatively low numbers, with just over 458,000 for all of 2020.
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