Joe Biden was forced to build the border wall by Donald Trump

[ad_1]

Homeland Security said Friday it will build 20 more miles of border wall, fulfilling some of former President Donald Trump’s campaign promise.

The department suggested it had no choice but to begin construction thanks to the terms of the 2019 spending bill, which earmarked money specifically for border wall-building.

About $190 million remains unspent and President Biden risks running afoul of the law if he doesn’t take steps to spend it on the wall by September.

Until and unless Congress rescinds these funds, DHS is required by law to use the funds consistent with their intended purpose, Customs and Border Protection said in an unsigned statement announcing the new construction.

The move marked a significant setback for Mr. Biden, who during the 2020 campaign promised not to build another foot of wall in my administration.

CBP said the new construction will take place in the Border Patrols Yuma and El Centro sectors, which cover southeastern California and southwestern Arizona.

The wall will be an 18-foot steel bollard design, which is what the 2019 spending bill allows for and, CBP says, is the most operationally effective design.

Along with the fence panels, the department will also add lighting, walkways and sensors to detect illegal crossings. The Trump team called that package the wall system, and said it was all critical to border defense.

Mr. Trump left office having built more than 450 miles of fencing, much of it replacing old designs. But the Trump team is delinquent in building roads and add-ons for the wall system. The Government Accountability Office said in 2021 that less than 69 miles of the entire wall system had been built.

The audit said the government rushed to build the panels to meet Mr. Trumps, but austerity in other aspects of the system.

While the wall panels are typically the most expensive part of border barrier construction, the entire wall system remains incomplete, the GAO said.

When Mr. Trump left office CBP had plans and funds to build more than 200 additional miles of wall.

That was stopped by Mr. Biden on his first day in office.

He first returned the money Mr. Trump siphoned off from the Defense Department to use for building the wall, then begged Congress to cancel the rest of the money Congress had actually appropriated for the wall.

Those efforts failed, and some of the money earmarked for 2019, 2020 and 2021 remains in the pipeline.

In 2019, for example, Congress appropriated $1.375 billion. Homeland Security says $190 million remains and must be spent on the wall.

CBP said late Friday that it still plans extensive coordination with landowners and state, local and tribal governments on how and where to build.

DHS remains committed to environmental protection and will conduct environmental surveys, evaluate the potential for environmental impacts from the implementation of projects, and develop measures that avoid or minimize impacts to the greatest extent possible, said the department.

[ad_2]