The barrier built at the border was former President Donald Trump’s trump card in the last election campaign. Biden said in 2020 that he would not approve new construction of the barrier on the southern border, as “it is not a serious policy solution”.
In recent weeks, the number of migrants from Mexico, often originating in Central America and several Latin American countries, has increased sharply.
So far this year, over 245,000 migrants have attempted to enter the United States at the Rio Grande Valley.
According to law
According to the United States government, funds have previously been allocated for wall construction by Congressional resolution and these funds must be used by law. About three miles of barrier will therefore be built in the Starr County district.
But President Biden said at the same time that he is using federal executive power to circumvent 26 laws in South Texas to get the barriers built. Among the laws were environmental regulations and protection against endangered animals.
The government is also under pressure from several states and cities that see the number of migrants increase sharply. New York City’s mayor Eric Adams estimates that over 100,000 migrants have moved to the city in the past year, and that the cost of, among other things, finding housing for them will cost the city over SEK 125 million over the next three years, the BBC reports.
Injured Trump
Adams himself will travel to Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador to urge residents not to try to enter the United States.
Republican and former President Donald Trump showed sarcastic glee at Thursday’s announcement. Trump wrote on social media that he expected an apology from President Biden, who had previously been critical of Trump’s immigration policy.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was disappointed by the announcement:
— This does not solve the problem. We must attack the causes of migration, the president said in Mexico City shortly before a meeting with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.