President Biden nixed finishing construction on Donald Trump’s signature border wall immediately after coming into office in January 2021, sparking a historically unprecedented wave of illegal immigration via the US’s southern border with Mexico.
President Joe Biden defended his administration’s surprise decision to allow for a section of the Trump border wall to be completed on Thursday, saying it proved impossible to divert the money for other projects.Asked if he viewed the border wall as an effective tool to fight illegal immigration, Biden answered bluntly: « No. »Biden’s comments followed an announcement by his Department of Homeland Security earlier in the day that it would approve construction of additional border wall fencing on the border between Texas and Mexico amid the spiraling immigration crisis.The new section of fencing will be built in Texas’ Starr County, along a route Customs and Border Patrol says is seeing particularly « high illegal entry, » with up to 245,000 illegal immigrants estimated to have made their way through this section of the border over the past year alone.The new section of wall is expected to run about 32 km.White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was at a loss for words trying to explain the administration’s flip-flop on the wall, telling reporters that the funds were appropriated in 2019 by Republicans, and that the administration is now simply making good on its legal obligations to spend the money.
