After temporarily shutting down construction of former president Donald Trump’s southern border wall, the Biden administration announced this week that the Department of Homeland Security will finish a short stretch of the wall in southeastern Texas.
A 13.4-mile stretch of slatted border fence in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas will be completed this summer, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.
President Joe Biden’s decision to complete this section of border wall was the result of “pressure from local residents and politicians” who are frustrated with the flood of illegal immigrants crossing the border, according to one report.
“In support of CBP’s border infrastructure program, USACE has resumed DHS-funded design & construction support on approx. 13.4 miles of levee in the Rio Grande Valley that were partially excavated or at various levels of construction when work on the wall was paused for review,” the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), which is a Defense Department entity, said in a statement.
Construction will start after priority repairs are completed and a concrete levee wall fit with safety barriers is installed. This process could take six to nine months, according to the USACE.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has been pushing Biden to fill the other “gaps in the wall,” according to a report earlier this year. Mayorkas submitted a report highlighting where the wall needs work.
A Democratic mayor of a border town along the Rio Grande blasted the Biden administration for not doing more to address the immigration crisis.
“They keep telling us that the border is under control and I simply do not understand how with a 392% increase this fiscal year alone,” Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano said on Wednesday.
“Last year, we had 19,724 captures at this point, and right now we’re at 97,398,” he continued. “I simply do not understand how that’s under control.”
