(Headline USA) The Biden administration has quietly agreed to finish construction of former President Donald Trump’s border wall in Arizona, according to that state’s Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly.
Kelly announced on Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security would fill in a gap in the Yuma Sector that was left after President Joe Biden shut down Trump’s border wall project.
“This is a step forward and I’ll keep working to ensure that Arizona has the tools needed for a secure and orderly process at the border including fencing and barriers where they make sense,” said Kelly.
Kelly said he has been lobbying the Biden administration to finish the wall in Arizona since December 2021, arguing that illegal immigration across Arizona’s southern border is overwhelming border towns and depleting their resources.
Over the past 10 months, Border Patrol has apprehended more than 20,000 illegal immigrants near the southern border every month.
Still, many saw Kelly’s move as purely political, coming ahead of midterm elections that increasingly look like a red wave in the making and leaving Democrats desperate to buy votes. Kelly has previously voted to defund construction of the border wall he now claims to support.
Mark Kelly voted three times in 2021 to defund construction of the border wall, but do go on…
1. https://t.co/n39WzFCcrv
2. https://t.co/n39WzFCcrv
3. https://t.co/VL6JPgWMe5 https://t.co/ddMwFia52J— Katica 🇺🇸 (@GOPPollAnalyst) July 23, 2022
Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls and Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines praised the completion of the border wall as a necessary step towards a more secure immigration system.
“This is an important first step to getting this border crisis under control, supporting our law enforcement, and keeping border communities safe,” said Nicholls.
The White House, however, downplayed Biden’s deal with Kelly, claiming that Biden “isn’t finishing the wall” but rather filling in gaps.
“We are cleaning up the mess the prior administration made,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “We are trying to save lives … A border wall is an ineffective use of taxpayer dollars.”
Thought @POTUS said h wouldn’t build the wall..
OH wait! Mark Kelly from AZ wants to be reelected https://t.co/f6W2rsdFuv— Desertgramma (@Desertgramma1) July 29, 2022
Headline USA’s Mark Pellin contributed to this report
