Biden Administration Allows Border Wall Construction in Texas
Rio Grande border wall sections will be the first such work since 2021
The House Homeland Security Committee is looking to spend $46.5 billion on new border wall projects throughout the Southwest in the current budget reconciliation process.
Photo courtesy of iStock
The Biden administration is fast-tracking construction of a wall on a 20-mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexican border in Starr County, Texas, to "deter illegal crossings in areas of high illegal entry into the U.S.," according to an early October notice in the Federal Register. The controversial move comes more than two years after President Joe Biden stopped previous construction begun in the Trump administration.
Wall work in the area had been previously noted in a June 30 announcement by the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS), which authorized its U.S. Customs and Border Protection unit to "move forward with the planning and execution of ... steel bollard panels," work it characterized then as "fence replacement projects to mitigate immediate life, safety and operational risks."
As of Oct. 6, no general contractor had been identified by the department. Personnel from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will place temporary concrete barriers in the coming weeks, an administration official said. Temporary work calls for Jersey barriers to eventually be replaced by 18-ft-tall steel-panel barriers, fencing, roads, lighting, cameras and sensors.
To expedite construction, the Department of Homeland Security issued 25 waivers of laws mandating project compliance related to clean air and water, endangered species, migratory birds, solid waste disposal, archaeological and historical preservation and other protections.
Similar waivers were issued during the Trump administration.
About 450 miles of border wall were built or upgraded along the Southwest border starting in 2017. Some sections of the wall started crumbling and deteriorating shortly after construction, with contractors who performed the work engaged in litigation with the Biden administration since then over whether the damage was caused by contractor performance or the abrupt end of the project before completion.
Biden ordered all border wall construction contracts canceled in 2021. The Biden administration also sold in August remaining materials purchased for Trump-era wall projects via the Ritchie Bros.-owned government surplus sales site, GovPlanet.
A new procurement process will be required for new the steel barriers, fencing, roads, lighting and cameras in addition to bidding for the contract or contracts to perform installation work.
The move to build new barriers along the border comes despite a President Biden campaign promise not to build any new wall sections. He said Oct. 5 that funds for construction were obligated by Congress under a 2019 law, and that the administration must “use the money for what it was appropriated for—I can’t stop that."
DHS said in June "it has an estimated $190 million remaining in fiscal 2019 funding." Its notice said the Administration "continues to call on Congress to cancel or reappropriate remaining border wall funding and instead fund other border security measures, like border crosser detection technology and modernization of land ports of entry, that are "proven to be more effective at improving safety and security at the border."
When asked if he thought the border wall was effective, Biden replied, "No."
An administration official said in a State Dept. briefing that the Rio Grande River—the only current barrier to illegal border crossings in the area in question—was not effective. Moveable Jersey barriers along the 20-mile area will assist the U.S. Border Patrol until the more permanent steel barrier is placed, the official said.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas asserted at an Oct. 4 event in Mexico, that walls work and there was "an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads" at the border "to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project area.” But on Oct. 5, he walked back comments in the Federal Register notice, stating: “From day one, this administration has made clear that a border wall is not the answer. That remains our position and our position has never wavered. The language in the Federal Register notice is being taken out of context and it does not signify any change in policy whatsoever."
Environmental advocates said the structures will cross through public lands destroying biological habitat and native culture.
“Starr County is home to some of the most spectacular and biologically important habitat left in Texas ... and now bulldozers are preparing to rip right through it,” Laiken Jordahl, Southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, a south Texas biological preserve that has opposed barriers, said in a statement to ENR.
The Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter in Texas called the decision a "mistake" that will cause damage to frontera families and communities, wildlife and endangered animals. "Simply put, border walls do nothing to address the humanitarian crisis of thousands of migrants seeking asylum and safety from violence in their home nations, while harming the landscapes that are so important to this country," said David Cortez, the organizations Texas director.
