Posted on 04/07/2021 7:26:46 AM PDT by Red Badger
Biden’s DHS may restart border wall construction to plug ‘gaps’
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told department employees he may restart border wall construction to plug what he called “gaps” in the current barrier.
In a conversation with Immigration and Customs Enformcement employees last week Mr. Mayorkas was asked about his plans for the wall and he said that while President Biden has canceled the border emergency and halted Pentagon money flowing to the wall, “that leaves room to make decisions” on finishing some “gaps in the wall.”
Mr. Mayorkas, according to notes of the ICE session reviewed by The Washington Times, said Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the wall, has submitted a plan for what it wants to see happen moving forward.
“It’s not a single answer to a single question. There are different projects that the chief of the Border Patrol has presented and the acting commissioner of CBP presented to me,” the secretary said.
“The president has communicated quite clearly his decision that the emergency that triggered the devotion of DOD funds to the construction of the border wall is ended. But that leaves room to make decisions as the administration, as part of the administration, in particular areas of the wall that need renovation, particular projects that need to be finished,” he said.
Mark Morgan, who served as acting commissioner of CBP under President Trump, said Mr. Mayorkas’s comments were “more spin and misdirection.”
Mr. Trump left office with about 460 miles of border wall completed, funded by a mixture of money Congress specifically approved and money Mr. Trump siphoned from Pentagon accounts after declaring a national emergency.
The new wall is more than just the steel slats. Officials describe it as a system, one that includes technology to allow agents to detect incursions and high-speed roads to allow them to reach trouble spots faster so that agents can interdict anyone who does make it over.
That a question about the wall came from employees at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which handles interior enforcement and deportation rather than border matters, shows just how deeply the wall has penetrated the psychology of Homeland Security.
It’s sparked fierce devotees — including Border Patrol agents themselves — and rabid opponents.
But with Mr. Trump out of office, the public is swinging back toward the wall, with a recent poll conducted for the Senate Opportunity Fund showing 53% now favor construction.
President Biden, however, remains an opponent, despite voting as a senator for 700 miles of border fencing and being part of the Obama administration that constructed more than 100 of those miles.
He vowed last year that he wouldn’t build “one more foot” of wall and on Inauguration Day he imposed a full stop.
The Washington Times reported last month that the halt left holes in the wall in Cochise County, Arizona, where miles of road were already finished but the wall was not. The county sheriff said smugglers were using the road as their own highway, helping them get their illegal cargo, whether people or drugs, deeper into the country faster.
“We just built roads for the cartels,” Sheriff Mark Dannels said.
Those legal questions may force Mr. Mayorkas to build more wall. The Washington Times reported in January that experts on congressional and presidential powers said Mr. Biden’s halt likely violated what’s known as the Impoundment Control Act.
Under that law, when Congress flexes its power of the purse to allocate money for a purpose, the administration must carry it out. The only exceptions are when there are questions of efficiency, or when the president officially submits a revocation request. Policy disagreements are not sufficient reason.
Congress over the last four years has allocated $1.375 billion each year for the wall, including in this current fiscal year.
Mr. Biden has not submitted a request to rescind that money.
Congressional Republicans have asked the Government Accountability Office to review the pause and rule on whether it is legal. The GAO has accepted the request, according to lawmakers.
Continue reading…
“Ol’ Plugs”
Bush League Republicans like Flimsey Grahamnesty and Micro Rubio told him they need a fig leaf to vote for amnesty.
LMAO!!!
Sometimes, reality just jumps up and takes a big old bite of insane fantasy liberalism’s azz....BIG TIME.
When Biden came into office and stopped construction immediately, he left those openings on purpose. The media will probably try to make it sound like Trump was just so stupid that he left openings here and there. Our media is pure evil.
I just don’t buy this for one second. It’s a “talk a good game” situation, but nothing will happen once the people start looking at something else.
Jenn Sack-of says it’s no longer called a “wall”.
It’s a Migrant Resource Aggregator.
I see this a little differently. I’m guessing the retards in the White House are under a lot of pressure from Democrats all over the country who have a good handle on what their constituents are thinking right now.
Pee-Saki.......................
TOO LATE! THE INVADERS ARE ALREADY INSIDE THE US WITH BIDEN’S APPROVAL!
Only when I see it will I believe it. I don’t trust this current administration any farther then I could throw a duce and a half.
The wall is to keep them in.
If I were in DC, in biden’s office, I would just point at the fence and razor wire around the capitol and say OK, explain THAT.
I know, I know, biden can’t explain how he ties his shoes, just sayin...
Humiliating leak...Biden wet the oval office again?
Biden is the ultimate super spreader.
When pigs fly.
Lobotomy Joe is doing this because his national numbers look terrible on the border and he wants to stop the bleeding. I’ll believe this when I see it.
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