According to government data, about 245,000 illegal entries have been recorded in this region during the current fiscal year….reports Asian Lite News
The Biden administration announced they waived 26 federal laws in South Texas to allow border wall construction, marking the administration’s first use of a sweeping executive power employed often during the Trump presidency.
The Department of Homeland Security posted the announcement on the US Federal Registry with few details outlining the construction in Starr County, Texas, which is part of a busy Border Patrol sector seeing high illegal entry.
According to government data, about 245,000 illegal entries have been recorded in this region during the current fiscal year.
There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas, Alejandro Mayorkas, the DHS secretary, stated in the notice.
The Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and Endangered Species Act were some of the federal laws waived by DHS to make way for construction that will use funds from a congressional appropriation in 2019 for border wall construction. The waivers avoid time-consuming reviews and lawsuits challenging violations of environmental laws.
Starr County’s hilly ranchlands, sitting between Zapata and McAllen, Texas, are home to about 65,000 residents sparsely populating about 3,108 square km that form part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
Although no maps were provided in the announcement, a previous map shared during the gathering of public comments shows the piecemeal construction will add up to an additional 20 miles to the existing border barrier system in the area. Starr County Judge Eloy Vera said it will start south of the Falcon Dam and go past Salineo, Texas.
The other concern that we have is that the area is highly erosive. There’s a lot of arroyos, Eloy Vera, the county judge said, pointing out the creeks cutting through the ranchland and leading into the river.
Concern is shared with environmental advocates who say structures will run through public lands, habitats of endangered plants, and species like the Ocelot, a spotted wild cat.
A plan to build a wall through will bulldoze an impermeable barrier straight through the heart of that habitat. It will stop wildlife migrations dead in their tracks. It will destroy a huge amount of wildlife refuge land. And it’s a horrific step backward for the borderlands, Laiken Jordahl, a southwest conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, said on Wednesday afternoon.
During the Trump administration, about 450 miles of barriers were built along the southwest border between 2017 and January 2021. Texas Governor Greg Abbott renewed those efforts after the Biden administration halted them at the start of his presidency.
The DHS decision on Wednesday contrasts the Biden administration’s posturing when a proclamation to end the construction on January 20, 2021, stated, building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution.
US Customs and Border Protection had no immediate comment.
The announcement prompted political debate by the Democratic administration facing an increase of migrants entering through the southern border in recent months, including thousands who entered the US through Eagle Pass at the end of September.
A border wall is a 14th-century solution to a 21st-century problem. It will not bolster border security in Starr County, US Representative Henry Cuellar said in a statement. I continue to stand against the wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars on an ineffective border wall.
Political proponents of the border wall said the waivers should be used as a launching pad for a shift in policy.
I don’t believe border walls work, says Biden
President Joe Biden on Thursday said he doesn’t believe border walls work. This comes as his administration said it will waive 26 laws to build additional border barriers in the Rio Grande Valley amid heightened political pressure over migration, CNN reported.
As per a notice posted to the Federal Register on Wednesday, construction of the wall will be paid for using already appropriated funds earmarked specifically for physical border barriers. The administration was under a deadline to use them or lose them. But the move comes at a time when a new surge of migrants is straining federal and local resources and placing heavy political pressure on the Biden administration to address a sprawling crisis, and the notice cited “high illegal entry.”
Biden – who, as a candidate, vowed that there will “not be another foot” of border wall constructed on his watch – defended the decision to reporters on Thursday, saying that he tried to get the money appropriated for other purposes but was unsuccessful.
Biden told reporters in the Oval Office: “I’ll answer one question on the border wall: The border wall – the money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to reappropriate it, to redirect that money. They didn’t, they wouldn’t. And in the meantime, there’s nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what it was appropriated. I can’t stop that”, reported CNN.
Asked whether he believes the border wall works, Biden answered, “No.”
Border Patrol reported nearly 300,000 encounters in the Rio Grande Valley sector between last October and August, according to federal data. Last month, Border Patrol apprehended more than 200,000 migrants crossing the US-Mexico border, the highest total this year.