Trump's unfinished wall will be completed by Biden

Washington, October 9 (RHC)-- U.S. President Biden is defending his decision to waive 26 federal laws in South Texas in order to speed construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall.  Biden’s move to advance a central policy of former President Trump’s platform has prompted condemnation from immigrant rights, environmental and Indigenous activists. 

At the White House, a reporter asked Biden why he reversed his campaign pledge that “There will not be another foot of wall constructed in my administration.”

President Joe Biden: “I’ll answer one question on the border wall.  The border wall — the money was appropriated for the border wall.  I tried to get to them to reappropriate it, to redirect that money.  They didn’t.  They wouldn’t. And in the meantime, there’s nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what it was appropriated.  I can’t stop that.”

When the reporter asked: “Do you believe the border wall works?" -- the U.S. president responded: “No.”

Democratic Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed Biden’s decision, writing: “A wall does nothing to deter people who are fleeing poverty and violence from coming to the United States.  You do not risk your life or your children’s lives going through the Darién Gap or traversing hundreds of miles of desert if you have any other options.  Walls only serve to push migrants into more remote areas, increasing their chances of death.”

In related news, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick Garland were in Mexico City Thursday meeting with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who condemned the border wall.

The Mexican president said: “This authorization for the construction of the wall is a step backward.  It doesn’t solve the problem.  We have to address the causes.”

Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas announced the U.S. will resume deportation flights directly to Venezuela, threatening Venezuelan asylum seekers with harsher consequences if they cross the U.S.-Mexico border.  For years, the U.S. government did not regularly deport Venezuelans because of tensions between Washington and Caracas. Thousands continue to flee Venezuela due to an economic situation that’s been largely worsened by U.S. sanctions.