President Joe Biden is rejecting the idea that barriers at the U.S.-Mexico border will help curb illegal immigration.
On Thursday, a reporter asked, “Do you believe the border wall works?”
“No,” he responded.
Watch the video below:
"Do you believe the border wall works?"
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 5, 2023
BIDEN: "No" pic.twitter.com/ND479ZM2SA
His comment comes after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a notice posted on the U.S. Federal Registry, “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.”
The New York Post notes the administration will waive “more than a dozen federal laws” in an effort to “bypass long drawn-out environmental reviews in order to expedite border wall construction in Starr County, TX .”
The Post also highlighted that Biden stated in a Jan. 20, 2021, proclamation to end the construction of a border wall, “Building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection insisted the decision to expedite border wall construction does not run afoul of Biden’s proclamation as it said, “Congress appropriated fiscal year 2019 funds for the construction of border barrier in the Rio Grande Valley, and DHS is required to use those funds for their appropriated purpose.”
“CBP remains committed to protecting the nation’s cultural and natural resources and will implement sound environmental practices as part of the project covered by this waiver,” it added.
The move comes after September set a new record for border crossings as there were more than 260,000 migrant encounters reported.
That was up from the previous record set in December 2022, when there were 252,320 migrant encounters reported.