Santa Teresa NM (KTSM) — In Santa Teresa, New Mexico, border wall material still lays along the border after construction of the border wall was halted back in January 2021 by the Biden Administration.
However, on Wednesday the Biden Administration announced that border wall construction can resume in Texas after 26 federal laws were waived.
President Joe Biden said the money has to be used for what it was appropriated for.
“Money was appropriated for the border wall; I tried to get them to re-appropriate it to redirect that money. They didn’t. They wouldn’t and in the meantime, there’s nothing under law other than they have to use the money for what it was appropriated,” Biden said during Thursday’s news conference.
Biden was asked by a reporter if he believes the border wall works to which he replied “no.”
“Walls are a symbol of our broken immigration system and of the lack of political will in Congress to address immigration reform,” said U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, on “X”.
Escobar said she never voted for wall funding and called on the Biden Administration to reconsider.
“I urge the (White House) to reconsider this decision — especially the disastrous choice to waive environmental laws — and work with Congress to reinvest these funds in border modernization and technology to improve safety and security,” added Escobar on “X”
The construction of the barriers will happen in Starr County, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley.
“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,” said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a statement on the Federal Register.
On the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website there is an interactive border system map that shows what section of the Southwest border has new border wall and existing barriers or none at all.
In the El Paso Sector there are areas in Santa Teresa without a border barrier or with barrier that hasn’t been updated.
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