During the election campaign, US President Joe Biden criticized the border wall with Mexico as a “waste of resources”. Now he defends their expansion.
US President Joe Biden has defended his administration’s decision to approve an expansion of the controversial border wall with Mexico, contrary to previous promises. The money for this was approved under his predecessor Donald Trump, the White House announced on Thursday (local time).
Biden told reporters that he tried in vain to convince Congress to reallocate the funds for other purposes. “I can’t stop it,” he added. When asked whether he believed that border walls would work against irregular migration, he replied with a curt “no.”
Department of Homeland Security sees “acute need” for a barrier
However, in an announcement in the US Official Gazette, the Department of Homeland Security justified the expansion on Wednesday with the current rush of migrants to the US southern border. By August, around 245,000 irregular border crossings had been registered in the affected area. There is an “acute and immediate need” for physical barriers, it said.
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The expansion involves an approximately 32 kilometer long section in Starr County in the state of Texas. The work in the Rio Grande Valley region was approved under Trump in 2019. According to the law, they must be completed by the end of this year, the government said. To move forward with construction, the Biden administration waived enforcement of several federal laws that require environmental assessments to protect water, nature and endangered species in the valley.
Mexico is on the route of people trying to come to the USA, primarily from Central and South America. They are fleeing poverty, violence and political crises in their countries.
Criticism from Mexico and civil rights activists
Mexico’s head of state Andrés Manuel López Obrador criticized the US government’s actions as a step backwards because it did not solve the problem. In January, Obrador praised Biden for his policies at a meeting in Mexico City. He is the “first president of the United States in a long time who hasn’t built a single meter of wall, and we are grateful for that, even if conservatives don’t like it.”
The civil rights organization ACLU described the action as a “serious mistake.” ACLU recalled that Biden rejected the wall during his campaign and promised not to continue it. “Instead of delivering on that promise, the Biden administration is now relying on failed policies of the past that have proven wasteful and ineffective,” it said in a statement.
Trump mocks Biden
Trump used the announcement to mock Biden’s policies. It is interesting to see how Biden breaks environmental laws to prove that he – Trump – was right when he approved the funds for the wall, he wrote on his online platform Truth Social. He called on Biden to apologize to him and the country for his failed migration policy.
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At the time, Trump announced that he would build a “beautiful wall” on the 3,200-kilometer-long southern border with Mexico to keep out undocumented immigrants and criminals. Biden’s Democrats accused him of pursuing an inhumane policy of isolation.
Deportations of Venezuelans resume
The US government also announced on Thursday that it would resume deportations of migrants to Venezuela. The deportation flights should begin immediately. This affects people who have crossed the border to the USA irregularly. Venezuela has been in a serious crisis for years. According to the UN, millions of people have left the South American country in recent years because of poverty and violence.
Just a few weeks ago, Biden granted temporary protected status in the United States to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans already in the country. Among other things, this gives them the opportunity to work.
