The administration of US President Joe Biden decided on Thursday to add sectors to the border wall aimed at blocking record flows of migrants from Mexico, in a continuation of a policy adopted by former President Donald Trump.
Trump made the construction of border barriers a mainstay of his first election campaign for the presidency, while one of the first measures Biden took after taking office in January 2021 was to pledge “not to divert more American taxpayer funds to build a border wall,” as well as to review all the resources allocated for this purpose.
Trump hastened to declare victory and demanded an apology, writing on social media: “will Joe Biden apologize to me and America for taking all this time to move?””.
The administration stated that its action did not contradict Biden’s announcement, because the funds allocated during Trump’s term in 2019 should be spent now.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement, “there is nothing new in the administration’s policy regarding border walls, and from day one this administration has made it clear that a border wall is not the solution.
Referring to the allocation of funds for the construction project during the previous administration’s assumption of responsibility, and that the law obliges the government to use the funds, he said: “We have repeatedly asked Congress to cancel the allocation of these funds, but it did not, and we are forced to follow the law.
