Every time Biden vowed NOT to build ‘another foot’ of border wall – but now he will

President Joe Biden and his team have repeatedly stated their commitment to halt construction of the southern border wall.

Biden said this week’s stunning turnaround in directing construction of a 20-mile border wall is only due to properly deploying the resources Congress has already appropriated for the physical barrier.

Although Biden said “no” on Thursday when asked if a border wall is effective, his own DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a directive this week claiming there is an “acute and immediate need to build physical barriers.”

The president promised during the campaign and reiterated at the start of the administration in 2021 that no more border wall would be built.

June 2019 – Biden calls Trump’s border wall ‘racist’

During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden said then-President Donald Trump’s border wall was a goal “divorced from reality.”

When Biden unveiled his immigration policies in a Miami-Herald op-ed, he sought to starkly juxtapose Trump’s policies and his own proposal by calling them “

“Under Trump, there have been horrific scenes at the border of children being held in cages, tear gassing asylum seekers and ripping children from their mothers’ arms – actions that undermine our American values ​​and erode our ability to lead on the world stage ‘ wrote the then presidential candidate.

“At a time when the challenges we face require a united, regional response, Trump repeatedly uses racial epithets to describe anyone south of the Rio Grande, including calling migrants ‘animals,'” he added.

He also said Biden’s repeated calls to get the border wall built do not solve the problems actually facing the southern border.

“It is imperative that we secure our borders, but ‘build the wall’ is a slogan divorced from reality. It will not stem the flow of illegal narcotics and human trafficking, both of which occur primarily through legal ports of entry,” Biden wrote.

August 2020 – Biden vows on the 2020 campaign trail that no more border wall will be built

During an interview with reporters from the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Biden said “no new foot” of the border wall with Mexico would be built if he were president.

He promised that on the first day of his administration he would issue an executive order to halt construction while his team worked to cancel the projects and prevent further construction.

“There will not be another foot of wall built in my administration, No. 1,” Biden told NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro during an interview while he was still running for president.

“I’m going to make sure we have border protection, but it’s going to be based on us using high-tech capabilities to deal with it,” he added in the virtual interview.

“And at the ports of entry, that’s where all the bad things happen.”

Months later – and just days before the 2020 presidential election in November, Biden tweeted: “We must: Build bridges, not walls. Open our arms, don’t clench our fists. Focus on the ties that bind us together, not those that tear each other apart.’

January 2021 – Biden cancels wall construction on day one of the presidency

During Biden’s first day in office, he issued a proclamation claiming he would find himself “wasting” even more taxpayer dollars on construction of the southern border wall.

An executive order halted current border wall projects that were being undertaken as part of former President Donald Trump’s pledge to secure the border with Mexico by building the wall.

“Building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution,” Biden said in the January 20, 2021 statement.

He added: “It’s a waste of money that distracts from real threats to our homeland security.”

“It will be the policy of my administration that no more American taxpayer dollars be used to build a border wall.” I am also directing a careful review of all resources appropriated or diverted to construct a southern border wall,” the then newly elected President stated.

However, earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would resume construction because Congress had already appropriated money to build the physical barriers.

January 2021 – The nominee for DHS secretary supports Biden’s abandonment of the border wall

Mayorkas announced this week that he is using his congressionally granted authority to waive 26 federal laws so the wall can be built in Starr County, Texas.

“There is currently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roadways near the United States border to prevent illegal entry into the United States in the project areas,” Mayorkas wrote in the directive.

As Mayorkas sought confirmation in January 2021, he told senators he supported Biden’s intention to halt construction of the border wall with Mexico.

“President-elect Biden has committed to halting construction of the border wall. It would be my responsibility to keep that promise, and I have not looked at what we are doing regarding the wall that has already been built,” Mayorkas told lawmakers on January 19, 2021 – the day before the inauguration of Biden.

After that hearing a few years ago, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said he would “hold” the nomination because of his comments about the wall and his refusal to say whether there was a crisis at the southern border. .

Biden insisted Thursday that he still opposes a border wall — in direct contradiction to Mayorkas’ own words, passing other laws to build the barriers. He also said he has repeatedly asked Congress to reallocate the funds so they can be used in other ways.

In the absence of action from Congress, the White House says Biden is now simply following the law by allowing the money to be used for a wall on the southern border.

“The money was for the border wall,” Biden said.

“I tried to get them to re-appropriate that money, to redirect it. They didn’t. They wouldn’t do that,” he said of Republicans in Congress.

‘In the meantime, there is nothing else according to the law other than that they must use the money for the intended purpose. “I can’t stop that,” he added.

When asked if he thought the border wall was effective, the president said, “No.”

January 2019 – Kamala Harris said she would not support the funding wall in exchange for DACA citizenship

Vice President Kamala Harris was also one of three senators at the time who opposed a deal that funded then-President Trump’s border wall in exchange for legislation granting citizenship to DACA recipients.

“I am not going to vote for a wall under any circumstances,” Harris said during a CNN town hall in 2019 as she campaigned for president.

At the event, which took place before she dropped out of the race and became Biden’s running mate, Harris called Trump’s border wall a “medieval vanity project.”

She also called the budget battle over wall funding a “distraction” from much larger issues at the time — including the investigations into then-President Trump.

Last month, Vice President Harris said she and President Biden had a major undertaking to repair the border when they took office.

She also emphasizes that it is safe, despite the continued increase in illegal crossings.

“The border is secure, but we also have a broken immigration system, especially the last four years before we got here, and that needs to be fixed,” Harris said in an NBC News Meet the Press interview last month.

“We have a secure border because that is a priority for every country, including ours and our government,” she added.