New York [US], October 8: The Biden administration plans to move forward with new border wall construction along the US-Mexico border, a policy that Democrats have viewed as a "racist" and "ineffective" solution to flaws in the immigration system.
President Biden, speaking after his administration announced border wall construction in Texas, said at the White House on Thursday that he tried to "redirect" the money for the project and denied that border walls work. Biden's comments contrast those made on Wednesday by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who cited an "acute and immediate need" to waive 26 federal laws to construct border walls in the Rio Grande Valley Sector.
Mayorkas later seemed to walk back his comments, claiming they were "taken out of context" and did not suggest a change in policy. The president has previously promised that not a "single foot" of new border wall would be installed under his leadership. Proposed policies to create barriers along the southern border have led to contentious debate among public officials for decades but reached a fever pitch under the Trump administration.
In December 2018, Trump demanded $5bn for his wall, but a standoff ensued with Democrats spearheaded by then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California.
Both Schumer and Pelosi had been vocally opposed to Trump's border wall plans since he announced his campaign in 2015. At the time, Trump claimed that Mexico would pay to install the wall. However, he backed away from this campaign promise throughout his presidency.
In April 2017, Pelosi said the wall was "immoral, expensive and unwise," pointing out that Trump never said he would pass billions of funding onto taxpayers.
She would use similar language the following year, eventually calling the border wall a "manhood issue" for Trump during an October 2018 press conference at the Harvard Kennedy School. Her position was shared by Schumer, who said on the Senate floor in 2018 that while he agreed "secure fencing" in some areas makes sense, a "medieval wall" along the entire length of the border would not make the country any safer.
Schumer would go on to call the border wall "expensive" and "ineffective" over the next year.
Source: Qatar Tribune