DHS Secretary Mayorkas Cites ‘Immediate Need’ to Build the Border Wall
The Department of Homeland Security has waived 26 federal laws to allow construction on sections of the border wall to begin once again in southern Texas, citing an “immediate need” for a barrier following record levels of illegal immigration.
The DHS announcement, posted to the U.S. Federal Registry Thursday, explained that the department deems it necessary to immediately waive federal laws, regulations, and “other legal requirements” to “ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads in the vicinity of the international land border in Starr County, Texas.”
This announcement comes in stark contrast to the Biden administration’s previous and even recent sentiments toward the border barriers that prevent immigrants from crossing into the U.S. unhindered. The White House previously halted construction of the border wall in 2021, citing “humanitarian” concerns, and its belief that the border wall was “not a serious policy solution.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also condemned Texas Governor Greg Abbott after he ordered the installation of a razor wire barrier along the southern border, calling it an “atrocious … political stunt.”
Border Patrol agents speak with hundreds of illegal immigrants who crossed over the U.S. southern border.
DHS Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas, using the authority provided to him under the IIRIRA, waived all relevant regulations and approved construction to begin on the border wall once again. Mayorkas deemed Starr County in the Rio Grande Valley Sector “high illegal entry”
“There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas,” Secretary Mayorkas said in the announcement.
Funds to resume construction were already allocated directly to the border wall by Congress in the fiscal year 2019 DHS appropriations bill, however, in recent years it has been reported that the federal government spent upwards of $130,000 daily storing unused material.
In June 2023, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) announced plans to construct approximately 20 miles of border wall in the Rio Grande Valley Sector, which prompted the DHS waiver.
Border Patrol agents speak with hundreds of illegal immigrants who crossed over the U.S. southern border. Portable restrooms and other facilities have been set up for the influx of individuals entering the area on a consistent basis.
Throughout the fiscal year 2023 to date, CBP and the Office of Field Operations have encountered more than 2,860,127 — and many more have evaded border enforcement. Sources within Border Patrol told Frontlines that 90% of the migrants who are apprehended and given notices to appear in court (NTAs) disappear into the interior of the U.S. without ever appearing in court.
Until recently, border security was primarily an isolated, border-state concern that was only addressed nationally by conservatives. To alleviate the financial and humanitarian burden on border communities, Texas Governor Greg Abbott began bussing illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities that have policies preventing federal immigration services from deporting anyone in the country illegally.
Sanctuary cities such as New York have been taking in roughly 10,000 migrants every month, in what has been deemed a crisis by the city’s Mayor Eric Adams, who warned residents that the overwhelming numbers of migrants arriving would “destroy New York City.”
Days before the DHS announcement was made, a Texas Department of Public Service (DPS) Aircraft Operations Division Pilot working in Eagle Pass, Texas — a hotbed for smuggling operational and illegal immigration — told Frontlines, “If the federal government doesn’t get a handle on the situation … it’s a very good possibility in my opinion, in ten years, we’ll be a third-world country.”
Governor Abbott celebrated the continued construction on the southern border, posting a video to X, formerly Twitter, stating “Texas border wall construction continues.”
