By Sydney Dalske
US President Joe Biden’s administration has approved a new section of the border wall to be built on the southern border of Texas in order to slow rising levels of Mexican immigration. About 20 mites will be built in Starr county.
This border wall was originally a signature policy of former US President Donald Trump, and opposed by Biden’s own party of democrats. Even part of Biden’s campaign was that he would not build another foot of the wall.
But the Department of Homeland Security announced recently the details outlining the construction in Starr county Texas, where a high amount of illegal entries occur. So far just this year, 245,000 of these crossings have been recorded in the Rio Grande Valley Sector.
In order to continue this construction, the Biden administration has waived 26 federal laws in south Texas.This included, the Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act , and Endangered Species Act. These waivers make way for construction to ensue and avoid any lawsuits they may have faced.
Biden’s defense of this was that he “Can’t stop” the construction since the funding had already been appropriated back in 2019. This contrasts to what he said back in January of 2021, when he first halted the construction. When he said “building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution.”
The rising number of illegal immigration across this border has put heavier pressure on President Biden to continue this construction, which is heavily favored by right-wing political groups.
U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar said in a statement that, “a border wall is a 14th century solution to a 21st century problem.”. While other political proponents in favor of the border wall say that the waivers should be used as a starting point in which to change policies.
There are multiple, very contrasting, sides to this debate. There are environmentalists that are angered by the destruction of nature that will be caused by the construction, but also cities that are struggling with the huge influx of people coming in from these border crossings.
Homeland Security has ended up saying that the new section of the border wall will get its funding from the secured finances during the Trump administration, and will not look for new funding.
This construction is in fact going to happen, but it will be interesting to see if it actually does curtail the rapidly rising amount of illegal border crossings happening every day.
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