Is Biden Reversing Course on the Border Wall?

(RightWing.org) – There are few things as symbolic in immigration control as the southern border wall. In 2016, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump often stated that a country without a border wasn’t a country, and that a big beautiful wall with a golden door in the middle was needed to ensure the US immigration system’s integrity. As of January 5, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said 452 miles of border wall were completed.

Democrats mocked and chastised Trump relentlessly over his signature issue during his presidency. Every chance they got, they fought him over it. Immediately after Joe Biden was inaugurated on January 20, one of his first actions was to defund the wall and halt any more construction on it, effective immediately. As the border crisis continues to intensify thanks to Biden’s campaign rhetoric and policy changes, the administration may be reversing course on the wall.

Is Biden Reversing Course on the Wall?

According to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the chief of the Border Patrol and acting commissioner of CBP submitted a plan to shore up parts of the wall not yet completed. In particular, Mayorkas said that gaps, gates, and areas need to be completed and that certain technologies were not implemented.

One would expect that to be the case considering Biden rushed to terminate Trump’s wall without knowing the status of the project and what was left uncompleted. Instead of diving in to get rid of any vestige of Trump, Biden would have been wise to ask for a review and then make decisions.

He didn’t do that. Now that the surge on the border is intensifying, the administration may be seeing the value of the fence.

Trump Celebrates

As the Biden administration reverses course, even if it’s slight, former President Donald Trump was elated. He said it was “great they reversed themselves” after they caused a lot of damage to the country through their failed immigration policies. The former president added that the wall was almost completed when Biden terminated the project in January and that if they do reverse course, it’s a “very positive step.”

It’s unlikely Biden will go as far as Trump would like, but buttoning up the wall is better than nothing. Sometimes, a win is a win, and you take them where you can get them.

Don Purdum, Independent Political Analyst