By Guy Page
The money earmarked by the Trump administration for building a southern border wall is instead being spent on “environmental remediation” and other site work near existing barriers at the southern border, according the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security. And DHS is taking steps to slow down wall construction by future administrations.
In a July 11 press release, DHS claimed to find “significant life, safety, and environmental hazards from incomplete border barrier construction projects under the prior Administration.”
Therefore – DHS says – the Biden administration will spend money earmarked in 2020 by the Trump administration for prioritized “remediation activities for the border barrier projects.” And it will continue to “work with the Department of Interior and other interagency partners on long-term environmental remediation and mitigation.”
The press release says nothing about the “significant life, safety, and environmental hazards” of the record numbers of immigrants entering the United States illegally. Southern border encounters hit an alltime high of 239,000, bringing the 2022 total to more than 1.5 million, according to U.S. government figures.
DHS does promise to spend some of the money on installing lighting, cameras and detection technology in places with previously built barriers.
But there is no indication that officials responsible to keep the homeland secure will build more walls on the southern border. In fact, DHS will spend the Trump-era wall construction funding so as to prevent, or at least slow down, future construction.
Lest a future administration decide to continue wall construction, Commissioner Alejandro Mayorkas’s DHS won’t even undertake the environmental planning necessary: “Additionally, due to higher-than-expected remediation costs, DHS will take action to terminate the environmental planning process that was initiated for new barrier system in the USBP Laredo Sector and funded by the Fiscal Year 2020 funding.”
Americans skeptical about DHS’s apparent inability or even unwillingness to stem the flow of illegal immigrants may take assurance from the statement’s closing, single-sentence paragraph: “This Plan Amendment supports DHS priorities to deploy modern, effective border security measures along the Southwest Border.”
The entire release can be seen at DHS.gov.