After reports surfaced Tuesday that the Biden administration was planning to continue construction on former president Donald Trump’s border wall, a Minnesota congresswoman took to Twitter to voice her displeasure.
“It’s shameful and unacceptable for [President Biden] to continue the construction of Trump’s xenophobic and racist wall,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) said.
It’s shameful and unacceptable for @POTUS to continue the construction of Trump’s xenophobic and racist wall.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 7, 2021
The Washington Times first reported that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told his employees that border wall construction could continue in order to fill “gaps,” “gates,” and sections of land “where the wall has been completed but the technology has not been implemented.”
“The president has communicated quite clearly his decision that the emergency that triggered the devotion of DOD funds to the construction of the border wall is ended. But that leaves room to make decisions as the administration, as part of the administration, in particular areas of the wall that need renovation, particular projects that need to be finished,” Mayorkas reportedly said.
On January 20, Biden’s first day in office, he terminated Trump’s redirection of emergency funds that were being used to build the wall.
“Like every nation, the United States has a right and a duty to secure its borders and protect its people against threats,” an executive order said. “But building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution.
“It is a waste of money that diverts attention from genuine threats to our homeland security, he continued. “My Administration is committed to ensuring that the United States has a comprehensive and humane immigration system that operates consistently with our Nation’s values.”
Wednesday, Press Secretary Jen Psaki denied that the administration will continue with construction.
She said:
“We don’t believe the wall is an answer. We’ve never believed [that] the wall is an answer to addressing the challenges, the immigration challenges at the border. That’s why we’re proposing investments in smart security at the border, why we’re driving what we see as 21st century solutions for border management, and why we believe we should build a functioning immigration system. There’s a review underway on kind of where this funding had been allocated and not but it’s currently paused.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported encountering 171,000 migrants crossing the southern border into the United States in March alone.
Migrant detention facilities at the border, which Omar herself once called “concentration camps,” have seen massive influxes in detainees, and are operating over capacity. One facility is at 1600 percent of its capacity.
Democrats, who claimed during the Trump administration that keeping migrants in such conditions is tantamount to human rights violations, have turned a blind eye to the problem, which has grown significantly under the Biden administration.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Minnesota Sun and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
