After initially bringing a halt to the construction of the southern border wall, President Joe Biden’s administration reportedly might continue construction to fill “gaps in the wall.”
The Washington Times reported that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told employees that while funding for construction of the wall has been cut off, the administration still has “room to make decisions” about addressing “particular areas of the wall that need renovation, particular projects that need to be finished.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) tweeted on Wednesday, “It’s shameful and unacceptable for [Biden] to continue the construction of Trump’s xenophobic and racist wall.”
It’s shameful and unacceptable for @POTUS to continue the construction of Trump’s xenophobic and racist wall.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 7, 2021
During the campaign, Biden vowed, “There will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration.”
“I’m going to make sure that we have border protection, but it’s going to be based on making sure that we use high-tech capacity to deal with it. And at the ports of entry — that’s where all the bad stuff is happening,” he added.
When was asked about the report from The Washington Times on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, “Wall construction remains paused, to the extent permitted by law. So some has already been funded through congressional authorization and funding allocation. But as agencies develop for a plan — it’s paused while agencies are developing a plan for the President on the management of the federal funds.”
“It is paused. There is some limited construction that has been funded and allocated for, but it is otherwise paused,” she added.
And on Wednesday, she stressed that Biden administration officials “have never believed the wall is an answer to addressing immigration challenges at the border.”
Omar has been a sharp critic of the construction of the border wall under former President Donald Trump, which she called a “monument to racism.”