The Biden administration announced on Wednesday the waiver of more than two dozen federal laws in south Texas, something that will allow for further border wall construction.
It is the first time the current government uses these kinds of power, and comes at a time when unlawful border crosses continue to increase. In fact, border patrol agents apprehended more than 200,000 migrants in September, the highest monthly figure of the year.
The construction will take place in Starr county, part of a busy section of the border that the Department of Homeland Security says is seeing "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," the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, stated in the notice.
Concretely, the decision waives 26 federal laws to avoid time-consuming bureaucracy that would delay construction of the wall. It also prevents potential lawsuits challenging, for example, the violation of environmental laws.
The news also comes as a delegation of high-ranking officials from the U.S, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and DHS Alejandro Mayorkas among them, has travelled to Mexico to discuss issues such as drug-trafficking (particularly fentanyl) and the border crisis.
In a conversation at the University of Texas at Austin hours before his arrival in Mexico City, Blinken acknowledged that the world is facing "the largest migration challenge of all times." "In our own hemisphere, somewhere between 20 and 25 million people on the move," Blinken added.
It is unclear whether this particular issue is being discussed in the meetings, but Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, commonly known as AMLO, did address it in his regular morning press conference. AMLO said this is "contrary to what President Biden had been saying" and highlighted that "he's the only president who has not built a wall."
"Not yet. It's a proposal. I understand there is strong pressure from far-right sectors in the U.S.," added AMLO.
Biden addressed the issue on Thursday in a contact with the press before a National Security team briefing on Ukraine. Asked what had changed since he'd said he wouldn't build more wall, Biden said "nothing" had and reiterated his vision that it's a failing strategy. "I'll answer one question on the border wall. The border wall — the money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get to them to reappropriate it, to redirect that money. They didn't. They wouldn't. And in the meantime, there's nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what it was appropriated. I can't stop that," said the President.
It is not expected the high numbers of crossings to reverse anytime soon. US Customs and Border Protection official told CNN that crossings are expected to remain high in the near term, and adam Isacson, director of defense oversight for Washington on Latin America (WOLA) told USA Today that the overall figure for the year could reach or even surpass 3 million.
The Department of Homeland Security said it expects "fluctuations" in migration patterns based on smugglers' use of "misinformation to prey on vulnerable individuals." It also said that it's carried out more than 250,000 returns of deportations since early May.
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