The 180-degree turn came amid the surge of illegal migrants flooding into the country. According to federal government data, approximately 245,000 illegal entries have occurred in the Rio Grande Valley since October 2022.
During his 2020 Democratic campaign, President Joe Biden had pledged that not "another foot of wall" would be erected during his presidency. Once in office in January 2021, he issued a proclamation to halt the construction of the wall, which had been a key focus of former President Donald Trump's strategy to curb illegal entries into the United States.
At the time, Biden emphasized that "constructing an extensive wall across the entire southern border is not a viable policy solution."
The Trump border wall parts worth $300 million were sold for $2 million, according to journalist Maria Bartiromo. It took Biden two-and-a-half years of open borders and seven million illegal aliens entering the country to admit that Trump was right. (Related: Texas border sector reports 10K known border crossers in single week.)
Biden trying to salvage some measure of pride
But when questioned by reporters about the reversal in his policy, Biden explained that Congress had allocated funds for further wall sections and had rejected his request to redirect that funding elsewhere. He stated: "In the meantime, there's nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what it was appropriated for. I can't stop that."
When asked if he now believed that a border wall was effective in deterring illegal immigration, Biden responded with a "No."
The policy change was announced by the Department of Homeland Security, with plans to waive several laws, including the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, to hasten the construction of additional wall sections.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas justified the move. "There is currently an urgent and immediate need to establish physical barriers and roads near the United States border to deter unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas," he said.
Later on, Mayorkas changed his tune, claiming that his statement was taken out of context. He said the administration had not changed its policy relating to a border wall.
"From day one, this administration has made clear that a border wall is not the answer," he said in a statement. "That remains our position and our position has never wavered."
Mayorkas said the government was legally obligated to use money Congress allocated four years ago for border barrier construction in south Texas for its intended purpose.
The DHS secretary had come under fire from environmental activists, migrant advocates, Democratic lawmakers, and even Mexico's president who echoed Trump's controversial efforts to build hundreds of miles of wall to deter migrant crossings.
Conservatives, on the other hand, said the latest move gave credence to Trump's signature border policy, and highlighted Biden's hypocritical 180-degree change of course.
Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, a Democrat, criticized the Biden administration's handling of the migrant crisis in a recent letter, describing the situation as "untenable" and chastising the administration for its "lack of intervention and coordination at the border."
Just recently, NBC News released a poll indicating that the majority of Americans believe Republicans are better at addressing border security than Democrats.
Read more news about the ongoing migration crisis at OpenBorders.news.
Watch this report about Biden's order to resume border wall construction.
This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.
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