Originally published October 5, 2023 7:31 am PDT
In a marked departure from earlier stances, the Biden administration on Wednesday facilitated the continuation of border wall construction in South Texas by waiving 26 federal laws.
The move mirrors the extensive executive authority often utilized during the Trump era to propel border security measures forward.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unveiled this decision on the U.S. Federal Registry, highlighting the imminent requirement of physical barriers in Starr County, Texas to curb illegal entries, amidst a significant uptick in illicit border crossings in the region.
This fiscal year, the Rio Grande Valley Sector, encompassing 21 counties, has witnessed about 245,000 illegal entries, as per governmental data, according to a report from The Associated Press (AP).
In the same time period, the U.S. has seen over 2.2 million illegal immigrant crossings.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas emphasized the “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.”
The waivers, encompassing significant environmental laws like the Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and Endangered Species Act, are aimed at accelerating the construction process by evading prolonged reviews and legal battles often associated with environmental law violations.
The construction, set to unfold in the hilly ranchlands of Starr County, situated between Zapata and McAllen, Texas, will utilize funds allocated by Congress in 2019 for border wall construction.
Dan Stein, the president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, lauded the move stating, “After years of denying that a border wall and other physical barriers are effective, the DHS announcement represents a sea change in the administration’s thinking: A secure wall is an effective tool for maintaining control of our borders.”
He further urged the administration to “immediately begin construction of wall across the border to prevent the illegal traffic from simply moving to other areas of the border.”
In June, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had announced the project, subsequently sharing a map illustrating the additional construction during a public comment period in August, AP notes.
The enhancement can potentially add up to 20 miles to the existing border barrier system, starting south of the Falcon Dam and extending past Salineño, Texas, according to Starr County Judge Eloy Vera.
This comes after the Trump administration erected about 450 miles of barriers along the southwest border from 2017 to January 2021, a venture renewed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott post a brief halt by the Biden administration.
Contrary to the Biden administration’s earlier proclamation on January 20, 2021, dismissing the idea of a massive wall along the southern border as not a “serious policy solution,” Wednesday’s decision seemed to realign with the Trump-era policy.
Biden had vowed there would “not be another foot of wall constructed in my administration.”
In a statement, the CBP maintained that this project adheres to the 2021 proclamation as “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.”
Amid these developments, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker expressed his frustration with the Biden admin regarding the migrant crisis in a letter sent on Monday.
He critiqued the federal government for its “lack of intervention and coordination at the border” that has led to an “untenable” situation in Illinois, following the transportation of more than 15,000 migrants to the state by Texas officials over the past year.
Pritzker lamented the inadequate support from the federal government despite Illinois’ efforts to assist these asylum seekers.
“Allowing just one state to lay the burden upon a certain few states run by Democrats is untenable,” Pritzker went on to say. “We are a nation that has welcomed immigrants and refugees since our founding, and we have done so in a bipartisan manner. It cannot be that just a few cities and states should now bear the cost of this effort alone.”
Meanwhile, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is weighing in on Biden’s decision to continue border wall construction along the southern border.
“More than two and half years and some 9 million illegal entries later, the Biden administration is now acknowledging that we have a very serious problem along our southern border and that physical barriers are needed to stem the flow of illegal immigration into the United States,” FAIR wrote in a Wednesday press release.
Dan Stein, president of FAIR, said, “This is the first acknowledgment on the part of the Biden administration that our borders are not secure and that the president’s cancellation of border wall construction on his first day in office was a mistake. Better late than never, but a lot of damage has been inflicted on the nation by the Biden administration’s refusal to erect border barriers that American taxpayers had already paid for, and that damage is being added to every single day.”
“After years of denying that a border wall and other physical barriers are effective, the DHS announcement represents a sea change in the administration’s thinking: A secure wall is an effective tool for maintaining control of our borders. Having made that concession, the administration needs to immediately begin construction of wall across the border to prevent the illegal traffic from simply moving to other areas of the border,” Stein continued.
The FAIR leader went on to ask the Biden admin to “rethink its catch-and-release policies that are driving mass illegal immigration,” arguing that “measures must be put in place immediately to ensure that illegal aliens are turned back at the border, rather than released into the country, and that all of our immigration laws are vigorously enforced.”
