More than two and half years and some 9 million illegal entries later, the Biden administration is now acknowledging that we have a very serious problem along our southern border and that physical barriers are needed to stem the flow of illegal immigration into the United States. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today that it will “take such actions as may be necessary to install additional physical barriers and roads (including the removal of obstacles to detection of illegal entrants) in the vicinity of the United States border to deter illegal crossings in areas of ‘high illegal entry’ into the United States” [emphasis added].
“This is the first acknowledgment on the part of the Biden administration that our borders are not secure and that the president’s cancellation of border wall construction on his first day in office was a mistake. Better late than never, but a lot of damage has been inflicted on the nation by the Biden administration’s refusal to erect border barriers that American taxpayers had already paid for, and that damage is being added to every single day,” said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
“After years of denying that a border wall and other physical barriers are effective, the DHS announcement represents a sea change in the administration’s thinking: A secure wall is an effective tool for maintaining control of our borders. Having made that concession, the administration needs to immediately begin construction of wall across the border to prevent the illegal traffic from simply moving to other areas of the border,” Stein continued.
“In the interim, it is also critical that the administration rethink its catch-and-release policies that are driving mass illegal immigration. The ‘additional physical barriers’ DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is calling for will take time to build. As each month sets a new record for illegal entries, measures must be put in place immediately to ensure that illegal aliens are turned back at the border, rather than released into the country, and that all of our immigration laws are vigorously enforced.
“It is tragic that the crisis at the border and its effect on communities all across the country had to reach this point before the administration decided it is time to act. Having made that call, they need to go all-in by completing the border wall and reversing all of the failed policies that got us to this point,” concluded Stein.
