US government waives federal laws to expand wall with Mexico

EThis maneuver had already been used frequently by the previous US administration led by Republican Donald Trump.

The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, declared that a new section will be built in the Rio Grande Valley, a sector that records a “large number of illegal entries” on the border between the two countries.

“There is currently an urgent and immediate need to build physical barriers and roads close to the border of the United States of America (USA) to prevent illegal entries,” declared Mayorkas in an official document.

The information was considered a turning point in the strategy of the administration of Joe Biden (Democrat), and when the current President guaranteed at his inauguration in January 2021 that the construction of a wall on the border would not be paid for by taxpayers.

At the time, he also stated that a “massive” wall did not constitute “a serious political solution”.

In Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador today considered that Washington’s decision constituted “a step backwards”.

Joe Biden, candidate for presidential re-election, assured today that he “cannot interrupt” the financing secured by his predecessor Donald Trump for the construction of the wall.

“Money was planned for the border wall. I tried to convince [os republicanos no Congresso] to grant the funds for another purpose, redirect them. They didn’t want to,” he said.

“Therefore, it is not legally possible to use this money for anything other than what was planned”, he continued, ensuring that he “does not consider” that building a wall is a solution to the migration crisis.

A White House spokesperson also issued a clarification on the matter.

“It is absolutely false that this is a change [política]”, declared Andrew Bates, in a message published on the social network X, formerly Twitter.

“Congress obliges us to act in accordance with a 2019 law (…). We apply the law”, he assured.

Donald Trump, Biden’s rival and favorite for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election, reacted immediately.

“The Biden administration’s announcement demonstrates that it was right when it built 900 kilometers (…) of a beautiful, new border wall,” he wrote on his social platform Truth Social.

The secretary of the Department of Homeland Security specified in his official note that the funds for “supplementary physical barriers” come from a donation approved by Congress and with that precise objective, when Trump still occupied the White House.

He also confirmed that the 26 federal laws, which include legislation on the environment and protected species, will be suspended to allow the construction of the new section of the wall.

Illegal immigration remains a growing political problem for Biden, subject to growing criticism from Republicans who accuse him of laxity.

Recently, the federal administration was on the verge of a shutdown due to disagreements between the two political camps: the right wing of the Republican Party opposed the release of additional funds for Ukraine at war and invaded by Russia , considering that this money should first be used to combat the migration crisis on the border between the USA and Mexico.

“Will Joe Biden apologize to me and America? [Estados Unidos] (…) for allowing our country to be invaded by 15 million illegal migrants, coming from unknown places?”, Trump also noted on the social network Truth Social.

The decision was met with disappointment among environmental activists.

Laiken Jordahl, from the Center for Biodiversity, cited by the AFP news agency, described it as “demoralizing”, lamenting that the President “dispenses with environmental protection laws to build ineffective border walls that kill wildlife”.

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