The administration of President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that it will add sections to the US-Mexico border wall to prevent record migrant crossings from Mexico. This will carry forth a key promise of outgoing President Donald Trump.
Trump is the Republican Party’s favourite to face Democrat Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election. Trump made erecting border walls a core part of his first presidential campaign, with the rally slogan “Build That Wall.”
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After entering office in January 2021, Biden issued a proclamation promising that “no more American taxpayer dollars will be diverted to construct a border wall,” as well as a review of all resources already pledged.
The government said that Thursday’s decision did not vary from Biden’s statement. This is because funds appropriated under Trump’s presidency in 2019 had to be spent immediately.
In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated that “there is no new Administration policy regarding border walls.” This administration has been clear from the start that a border wall is not the solution.”
Mayorkas stated that the construction project was allocated during the previous administration. He added that the government is required by law to use the funds, which were announced earlier this year. “We have repeatedly asked Congress to rescind this money. It has not done so and we are compelled to follow the law,” he stated.
Why construction will continue on the US-Mexico border
The county is in the Rio Grande Valley Sector, where Border Patrol officers have met more than 245,000 migrants entering the United States this fiscal year, according to a Federal Register article by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Biden’s Department of Homeland Security stated in a notice published in the Federal Register on Thursday that it required to waive a number of laws, rules, and other legal requirements in order to build barriers in Starr County, Texas.
