The Biden administration has accelerated plans to resume building barriers along the US-Mexico border, in recognition of the severity of the migrant crisis.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas quietly announced late Wednesday that a 20-mile wall would be built in the Rio Grande Valley of Southeast Texas, citing an “acute and urgent need to build a physical barrier” to prevent more people from entering the country illegally .
“The United States Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector is a ‘high illegal entry,'” Mayorkas said. “Therefore, I must use my power . . . to install additional physical barriers and roads in the Rio Grande Valley Sector.”
Biden repeatedly voiced his opposition to the wall during the 2020 campaign, saying: “There will be no more wall building in my administration.”
After taking office in 2021, he called building the wall a “waste of money” in an executive order, and he doubled down Thursday by answering “no” when asked by reporters if he thought the wall would work — despite the fact the Department of Homeland Security signed it last year by closing four gaps in the border wall near Yuma, Ariz., which has also seen a large influx of immigrants, as well as replacing a damaged section of the barrier near San Diego.
This week’s announcement was made primarily by Mayorkas, setting aside no less than 26 federal laws, including the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Air Act to speed up construction.
The Biden administration has fast-tracked plans to resume building barriers along the US-Mexico border, in recognition of the severity of the migrant crisis.NYPJ
The document signed by Mayorkas says the Rio Grande Valley border sector – one of nine along the southern border – has seen 245,000 people try to sneak across the border in fiscal year 2023, which ends on September 30.
The US is straining under the weight of so many immigrants entering the country and claiming asylum — with Gov. Hochul and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, both Democrats, saying the influx has pushed their major cities past the breaking point and blaming the Biden administration for not do enough to help federally.
Texas Republican George P. Bush – nephew of former president George W. Bush – told The Post the announcement represented Biden “facing reality.”
“Biden has always said that ‘not another foot of wall’ will be built,” he said, “but the magnitude of the Border Crisis is at the level where Dem leaders are demanding Biden’s action.”
Joe Biden has previously said that a border wall would be counterproductive. Getty Images
Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) said, “Although President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas still refuse to label the dire situation on our border as a crisis, Secretary Mayorkas now acknowledges the ‘urgent need’ to build an additional border wall in Texas.
“Any additional barriers must be followed by the political will to enforce our immigration laws.
“A twenty-mile border wall will not stop direct invasion of our country—only the consequences will.”
On Thursday, Biden claimed his hands were tied and that he “cannot stop” construction of a new section of the wall because Congress would not cancel spending on it, which was earmarked for 2019.
“The money is earmarked for the border wall,” Biden told reporters in the Oval Office. “I’m trying to get them to readjust, to divert the money. They do not. They won’t do it.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas quietly announced late Wednesday that a 20-mile wall would be built in the Rio Grande Valley of Southeast Texas, citing “an acute and urgent need to build a physical barrier.” James Keivom
However, an environmentalist told The Post that the administration could easily delay construction by allowing it to be tied up in red tape, instead of relaxing the law to avoid a lengthy review process and possible lawsuits over environmental damage during construction.
“Will Joe Biden apologize to me and America for taking so long to move, and allowing our country to be flooded with 15 million illegal immigrants, from places unknown,” Trump wrote Thursday on his Truth Social platform, without quoting from where did he get the numbers from.
Work will be carried out on six proposed sections between Salineño and Rio Grande City in Starr County, Texas.
Fiscal year 2023 saw a record-breaking more than 2.2 million arrests recorded by Customs and Border Protection.
The Biden administration said in May it would get tough on immigration and announced plans to enforce laws that make it harder for people to enter the country.
However, data from Syracuse University’s TRAC immigration database shows a record 180,000 immigrants entered the country in August alone, a number only expected to rise in September.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has repeatedly said in recent weeks that Biden could “flip that switch at any time” to take action on the crisis.
Speaking to The Post last week he also congratulated Democratic leaders who pushed Biden to do more.
“They need to demand what all Americans expect,” he said, “and that is the Biden administration will follow the rule of law and stop illegal immigration.”
Since then, other prominent Democrats have voiced their displeasure with Biden’s mishandling of the crisis, including Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, who declared a state of emergency and denounced a “crisis of federal inaction”.
New York City has been inundated with more than 122,000 asylum seekers since the spring of 2022 and has about half of them still under its care at 200 sites, according to Mayor Adams, who claimed the bill would reach $12 billion.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
