This is an unexpected about-face that embarrasses the Biden administration. The White House has just approved the construction of a new section of wall on the border with Mexico. Its construction to limit illegal immigration had been one of the markers of Donald Trump’s mandate, since vigorously condemned by the Democrats.
Joe Biden had made this promise during the 2020 presidential campaign and it was one of his first decisions after his inauguration: to stop the construction of the border wall decided by his predecessor.
However, the 80-year-old Democrat, candidate for re-election, announced Thursday that he “could not interrupt” the financing committed by the Republican billionaire, failing to have been able to convince Congress to use these funds for other measures. “The money was intended for the border wall. I tried to convince (the Republicans in Congress) to allocate the funds to something else, to redirect them. They did not want to,” defended Joe Biden .
“In the meantime, it is not legally possible to use this money for anything other than what it was intended for,” continued the Democrat to justify a decision strongly criticized by certain elected officials in his party, in particular within of the left wing. The American president, regularly accused by Republicans of laxity in the face of the migration crisis, assured that “no”, he did not believe that building walls was a solution.
32 kilometers of additional wall
The Minister of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, indicated that a new portion of wall would be erected in the Rio Grande Valley, on the border with Mexico. 32 kilometers in total. “There is currently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers […] in order to prevent illegal entries”, declared the minister in an official notice published by the Federal Register of the United States. To accelerate the construction of the rest of the wall, the application of 26 federal laws, in particular concerning the protection of the environment, is even suspended in South Texas.
Donald Trump, rival of Joe Biden and favorite of the right for the next presidential election, did not fail to react. This ad shows that “I was right when I built 900 kilometers […] “a brand new, beautiful border wall,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. Funds for the wall’s construction come from an allocation approved by Congress for this specific purpose in 2019, when Donald Trump was in power.
Expulsions of Venezuelans by direct plane
On Thursday, the Biden administration simultaneously announced the resumption of flights to expel Venezuelans who arrived illegally in the United States. These expulsions had been suspended for years due to the very degraded security situation in this country.
“There are direct consequences” to not “having a legal basis” for the stay, justified a senior representative of the administration. This decision is the latest part of a policy launched a year ago. To limit mass arrivals at the border, Washington had set up a legal arrival route for Venezuelans, with a quota of places and prior registration, in return for the commitment not to appear at the border. Nationals of the country have until now benefited from a temporary protection status which prevents expulsions to dangerous or unstable countries. This status was also renewed two weeks ago, but for migrants who arrived before July 31. This measure will therefore hit those who arrived illegally very recently.
Venezuelans are one of the nationalities most represented among the migrants who regularly arrive at the southern border of the United States.