The Biden administration announced Wednesday it was waiving 26 federal laws in southern Texas to allow construction of a border wall, marking the first time the Biden administration has used sweeping executive powers often used during Trump’s presidency.
The Department of Homeland Security released U.S. Federal Register Notice Details on the construction in Starr County, Texas, which is part of a busy Border Patrol sector and has “high rates of illegal entry,” were scant. About 245,000 illegal immigration incidents have been recorded so far this fiscal year in the Rio Grande Valley region, which encompasses 21 counties, according to government data.
“There is an urgent need to construct physical barriers and roads near the U.S. border to prevent illegal entry into the United States in planned areas,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced.
The Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and Endangered Species Act are some of the federal laws that the Department of Homeland Security is abandoning to make way for funds that will be used for border wall construction in 2019 congressional appropriations. These exemptions avoid time-consuming reviews and litigation for violations of environmental laws.
The sparsely populated hilly ranches of Starr County, between Zapata and McAllen, Texas, are home to approximately 65,000 residents and cover approximately 1,200 square miles (3,108 km2). Part of the Lander Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
Although no map was provided in the announcement, CBP announced the project in 2019 June and began collecting public input in August, when it was shared map The additional construction could add 20 miles (32 kilometers) to the area’s existing border barrier system. Starr County Judge Eloy Vera said it would start south of Falcon Dam and pass through Salinho, Texas.
“Another concern we have is that this area is very erosive. There are a lot of river valleys here,” said County Judge Eloy Vera, pointing to the creek that cuts through the ranch and flows into the river.
Environmental advocates have also raised concerns, saying the buildings would cut through public land, habitat for endangered plants and species such as the ocelot, a spotted wild cat.
“Plans to build a wall would bulldoze an impermeable barrier right through the heart of this habitat. It would prevent wildlife from migrating. It would destroy large areas of wildlife refuge. It would be terrible for border areas “It’s going backwards,” Laken Jordahl, Southwest Conservation Advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said Wednesday afternoon.
During the Trump administration, approx. 450 miles (724 kilometers) of obstacles The projects were built along the southwest border between 2017 and January 2021. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott revived the projects after the Biden administration halted them early in his presidency.
Wednesday’s decision from the Department of Homeland Security coincides with the Biden administration’s announcement “Building a giant wall spanning the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution,” he said at the end of construction on January 20, 2021.
CBP said in a statement Wednesday that the project is consistent with the 2021 announcement. “Congress appropriated FY 2019 funds to construct border barriers in the Rio Grande Valley, and DHS must use these funds for the purposes for which they were appropriated,” the statement said. “U.S. Customs and Border Protection remains committed to protecting the nation’s cultural and natural resources and will implement good environmental practices as part of projects covered by this exemption.”
The announcement sparked political debate within the Democratic administration, which has faced an increase in the number of migrants entering the U.S. via the southern border in recent months, including thousands who crossed eagle pass Late September.
“The border wall is a 14th-century solution to a 21st-century problem. It will not enhance border security in Starr County,” U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar said in a statement. “I continue to oppose the waste of taxpayer dollars on an ineffective border wall.”
Political backers of the border wall say exemptions should be used as a springboard for policy shifts.
“After years of denying that border walls and other physical barriers are effective, the Department of Homeland Security’s announcement represents a sea change in the administration’s thinking: Security walls are an effective tool for maintaining control of our borders,” Dan Stein, President of the Federal Council for U.S. Immigration Reform said in a statement. “After making this concession, the government needs to immediately begin construction of the cross-border wall to prevent illegal trafficking from simply being diverted to other parts of the border.”
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