President Joe Biden is under review for freezing funds congressionally approved for the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a report.
Politico reported the Government Accountability Office (GAO) confirmed this week that it is launching a review into whether Biden “broke the law by freezing the money in violation of budget rules designed to keep Congress in control of the cash flow.”
As the outlet notes, this means Biden may have made a border wall promise he cannot keep.
The president hit “pause” on the construction on his first day in office with a presidential proclamation, in which he rescinded former President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration. Trump’s declaration diverted billions from the Defense Department to build the barrier.
Biden’s proclamation reads, “It shall be the policy of my Administration that no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall. I am also directing a careful review of all resources appropriated or redirected to construct a southern border wall.”
However, as Politico writes, “Even if GAO decides Biden has illegally halted border wall funding, he is unlikely to face any formal punishment, particularly not the blowback and impeachment Trump went through after the former president halted Ukraine aid without Congress’s say-so.”
The report on the GAO’s review comes after more than 60 Republican House lawmakers and four Republican senators signed onto a push to the GAO requesting an opinion on Biden halting border wall construction.
They signed onto the push by a group of 40 Republican senators who wrote to the GAO on March 17 to request a decision on whether Biden’s move violates federal law.
In the weeks following Biden’s inauguration, “operational control of our southern border was compromised and a humanitarian and national security crisis has ensued,” the senators wrote.
The letter also reads, “The President’s actions directly contributed to this unfortunate, yet entirely avoidable, scenario. They are also a blatant violation of federal law and infringe on Congress’s constitutional power of the purse.”
The Biden administration has recently come under fire for the migrant situation at the U.S.-Mexico border. Biden has vowed to reverse Trump’s hard-line border policies.
The number of migrants apprehended at the southern border is on pace to reach its highest level in 20 years.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement last week, “We are on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years. We are expelling most single adults and families. We are not expelling unaccompanied children.”
“Our goal is a safe, legal and orderly immigration system that is based on our bedrock priorities: to keep our borders secure, address the plight of children as the law requires, and enable families to be together,” he added.
