😲 Hell hath frozen over: Biden administration bypasses 26 federal laws to build additional border wall in South Texas amid political pressure

[Hamartia Antidote]

So Hell hath frozen over...all those bus trips to Democrat controlled sanctuary cities by the Texas Governor has paid off...hopefully this leads to a chain reaction.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/05/politics/biden-administration-border-wall/index.html

The Biden administration will waive 26 laws to build additional border barriers in the Rio Grande Valley, according to a notice posted to the Federal Register Wednesday, citing “high illegal entry.”

Construction of the wall will be paid for using already appropriated funds earmarked specifically for physical border barriers, and the administration was under a deadline to use them. But the move comes at a time when a new surge of migrants is straining federal and local resources and placing heavy political pressure on the Biden administration to address a sprawling crisis.

Border Patrol reported nearly 300,000 encounters in the Rio Grande Valley sector between last October and August, according to federal data. Last month, Border Patrol apprehended more than 200,000 migrants crossing the US-Mexico border, the highest total this year.

President Joe Biden – who, as a candidate, vowed that there will “not be another foot” of border wall constructed on his watch – has been plagued by issues on the border since his first months in office, when the US faced a surge of unaccompanied migrant children that caught officials flatfooted. Over the last two years, his administration has continued to face fierce pushback from Republicans – and at times, Democrats – over his immigration policies.

But a new surge of migrants has placed additional pressure on federal resources and tested Biden’s latest border policies only months after going into place, prompting fresh criticism from Republicans and concern within the administration over a politically delicate issue.

Migration along the southern border has been a relentless focus of the Republican presidential primary field and conservative media, and leading Democrats, including the mayors of New York and Chicago, have begun publicly demanding stronger efforts by the federal government to provide resources to accommodate arrivals.

Spending existing funds​

The Department of Homeland Security had concluded “it is necessary to waive certain laws, regulations, and other legal requirements in order to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads” in Starr County, Texas, along the US border with Mexico, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in the filing posted in the US Federal Registry.

“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,” Mayorkas said in the notice.

Construction of the wall will be paid for through a 2019 appropriations bill that funneled money specifically to a “border barrier” in the Rio Grande Valley, and according to Mayorkas, “DHS is required to use those funds for their appropriated purpose.” The funds needed to be spent by the end of fiscal year 2023, prompting the administration to choose to move forward this year with construction in south Texas, according to a source familiar.

US Customs and Border Protection had previously announced plans to design and construct up to 20 miles of new border barrier systems in Starr County, including light poles and lighting, gates, cameras and access roads, among other systems. CBP sought public input between August and September, according to the agency.

Among the laws the Biden administration is bypassing to build the wall are several of the same statutes the administration has in the past moved to protect, including: the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act.

A CBP spokesperson said the agency “remains committed to protecting the nation’s cultural and natural resources” while implementing “sound environmental practices” to build the border barriers.

Engagement with Mexico​

Migrant crossings at the US-Mexico border are expected to remain high in the near term, a senior US Customs and Border Protection official recently told CNN, though additional commitments from Mexico are expected to help eventually drive down numbers.

This week, Mayorkas, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Attorney General Merrick Garland and White House Homeland Security adviser Dr. Liz Sherwood-Randall will meet with their Mexican counterparts in Mexico City for annual security talks.

Migration is expected to be a topic of discussion. Senior administration officials maintain that the US has been in regular touch with Mexico over the situation at the US southern border, including commitments to shore up enforcement.

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[Dalit]

LOL I have even better news.

Biden's dog Commander leaves White House after biting incidents

Commander, a two-year-old German Shepherd, has been involved in a series of biting incidents.

www.bbc.com

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

LOL I have even better news.

Biden's dog Commander leaves White House after biting incidents

Commander, a two-year-old German Shepherd, has been involved in a series of biting incidents.

www.bbc.com

I'm sure Biden was spewing the dog was from a "broken...but good family with a low economic background" so should be given a 2nd,3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th...101st chance to show it was not dangerous.

Plus the racist secret service agent set the dog up for failure by intentionally walking within 5000 meters of it...naturally triggering it to fear for its life and go for his jugular in a justifiable defensive response...what else should the agent have expected?

 

[Ghareeb_Da_Baal]

lol!

 

[Novus ordu seclorum]

"the US faced a surge of unaccompanied migrant children"

What kind of parents/people do this.

 

[Bengal71]

This is really unsustainable and the US should do something about it.

 

[SaadH]

Under Biden's vice presidency, his boss Obomba deported the most number of migrants in the history of US, they also first locked up migrant children in cages and practically had a Muslim ban against legal asylum seekers.

He'll hasn't frozen over, this is par for the course.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Opinion: Why is Biden building Trump’s border wall?

For many presidents, the time inevitably arrives when realities, either on the ground or of the political kind, run smack into campaign promises

www.deseret.com

Why is Biden building Trump’s border wall?​

For many presidents, the time inevitably arrives when realities, either on the ground or of the political kind, run smack into campaign promises

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...oh and make sure to wait sooooooooo long that things have gotten completely out of control leaving almost no solutions left.

 

[Oldman1]

"But a new surge of migrants has placed additional pressure on federal resources and tested Biden’s latest border policies only months after going into place, prompting fresh criticism from Republicans and concern within the administration over a politically delicate issue.

Migration along the southern border has been a relentless focus of the Republican presidential primary field and conservative media, and leading Democrats, including the mayors of New York and Chicago, have begun publicly demanding stronger efforts by the federal government to provide resources to accommodate arrivals."

LOL I knew that busing the illegal migrants into so called Sanctuaries by Democrats going to bite them in the butt when it really happens to them.

Sanctuary city Democrats’ laughable angst on illegal-migrant costs

Fix the actual problem, not the symptom. Dems who don’t want to embarrass the prez can do it behind the scenes, but tell the White House it’s got to truly secure the border — not just p…

nypost.com

Sanctuary city Democrats’ laughable angst on illegal-migrant costs​

Democrats and media outlets are suddenly alarmed that illegal migrants are turning sanctuary cities like Washington, New York and Chicago into “unofficial border towns.” Never mind the pain in actual border towns in Texas and Arizona since President Joe Biden opened the southern border — per Democrats’ wishes.

Migrants have transformed DC into “an unofficial border town,” a Washington Post story lamented last week, quoting an official from a group that helps newcomers there. The paper flags the “political gamesmanship” of Govs. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) and Gov. Doug Ducey (R-Ariz), who it says are busing “migrants as a political statement” about Team Biden’s border policies.

Meanwhile, Democratic Reps. Adriano Espaillat (NY), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Jesús García (Ill.) and others are calling for $50 million in federal funding for “sanctuary cities” to cope with the new arrivals, while slamming Abbott and Ducey for “playing politics” with migrants’ lives.

How rich. Suddenly, when cities that end-run federal law and claim to want more migrants get sent a few thousand of them, their leaders pop up, blast the states sending them and demand millions in federal aid. Yet millions of illegal border-crossers have swamped border communities for 20 months, with silence from Dems and left-leaning media.

That silence is why those govs got the buses going. And now the left is shocked? And wants taxpayers nationwide to foot the bill in Dem-run towns?

Yes, resettling illegal migrants is expensive. Yet Biden didn’t care about that when he reversed everything President Donald Trump did to dissuade them from coming in the first place. And now the tide keeps growing, drawing new waves from ever further afield.

So sanctuary cities getting hit with a fraction of the burden are finding their pious posturing may cost big? Sorry: Having the feds (the taxpayers) shell out billions for pricey new programs will only add to the attraction.

Yes, billions: The New York, DC and Illinois pols suggest each of, say, 20,000 migrants costs $2,500; 2 million have crossed this year. That works out to $5 billion a year.

Fix the actual problem, not the symptom. Dems who don’t want to embarrass the prez can do it behind the scenes, but tell the White House it’s got to truly secure the border — not just pretend.

Border debate shifts as Biden is confronted with anger — from Democrats​

The Biden administration has approved border wall construction as an influx of migrants in left-leaning states brings fresh criticism from Democrats.

CHICAGO — Calls to do more to control the flow of undocumented immigrants into the country have been an unrelenting GOP rallying cry, a central tenet of party beliefs.
But with tens of thousands of migrants now attempting to settle in blue states and cities around the country, the ground has shifted in the national immigration debate, with Democrats increasingly calling on President Joe Biden to take action on the border.

It’s all quickly created a political headache for the president.
Late Wednesday, the Biden administration took the extraordinary step of waiving a slew of environmental laws to move forward with construction of a roughly 20-mile stretch of new border wall in southern Texas.
Though the White House says the decision to move forward with new border wall construction was not tied to calls for action from blue state governors, it comes after their agitation grew to a crescendo.
Perhaps the most notable political turn for Biden came this week when Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Biden campaign surrogate and major Democratic donor, took aim at the administration’s “lack of intervention and coordination at the border.” In a public letter, Pritzker escalated past pleas for help — which included the governor in April personally asking Biden at the White House for assistance, according to a source with direct knowledge of the meeting.

Pritzker also called on the administration to play a role in directing where and how migrants are transported once they cross the southern border. The governor’s office said it estimates that numbers will quickly rise, with nearly 1,200 new migrants now arriving in Chicago a day — and temperatures in the city set to soon start dropping.

“This is a major humanitarian crisis that we have never experienced before in the modern age in this city,” Sol Flores, Illinois' deputy governor, said in an interview. Flores argued the Biden administration could do more, given that the majority of the migrants she sees are seeking asylum.

“They can take over the interior coordination, and they could work with all 50 states," as well as activate their Office of Refugee Resettlement, she added.

"The federal government has the infrastructure, they have the framework, they have the capacity to do this. They know how to move people."

It all marks a new era in the debate over immigration facing Biden and it stems from a new kind of migrant crisis, one that’s landed in Democratic-leaning cities and states in middle America, the East Coast and beyond because of the transporting of migrants from Texas, including their busing to those areas by the state's Republican governor, Greg Abbott. Abbott, as well as several Texas organizations, began sending migrants to sanctuary cities last year. The cities complained there was no coordination before the arrivals.

ACLU Comment on Biden Administration Announcement on Border Wall Construction in Texas | American Civil Liberties Union

www.aclu.org

ACLU Comment on Biden Administration Announcement on Border Wall Construction in Texas​

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will waive 26 federal public health, environmental, and cultural preservation laws to expedite border wall and road construction in Starr County, Texas. The decision is a dramatic departure from President Biden’s previous decision to end border wall construction in favor of meaningful reforms.

Jonathan Blazer, director of border strategies at the American Civil Liberties Union, had the following reaction:

“The Biden administration’s decision to rush into border wall construction marks a profound failure. On the campaign trail, President Biden put it best when he said that the border wall is not a serious policy solution – and we couldn’t agree more. Instead of upholding this promise, the Biden administration is doubling down on the failed policies of the past that have proven wasteful and ineffective.

“This politically motivated action will only harm border communities. It’s time for the Biden administration to choose humanity and real solutions over politics.”

 

[Dalit]

But but Pakistan should keep all illegal Afghan refugees in their country... Including those dirty Pakistan hating Afghans that worked on US/NATO/Indian payroll to destabilise Pakistan. Ironically many Pakistan hating Afghans have been shifted to Pakistan out of concern for being oppressed by the Taliban LOL Talk about miserable irony.

Global concerns

"It's obviously a concerning development," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a news briefing Wednesday in New York when asked for a response to Pakistan's decision to expel Afghans. "As a matter of principle, it is critical that no refugees be sent back without it being a voluntary and dignified return."

Refugee International, an independent humanitarian organization advocating for better support for displaced people, said Wednesday it was "deeply troubled" by the announcement from Islamabad.

"Pakistan has a long history of generously hosting their Afghan neighbors when they have been unsafe. Now is not the time to stop," said Devon Cone, senior advocate for women and girls at the U.S.-based group.

"We are especially concerned about Afghans who fled their country after August 2021 due to direct and targeted threats from the Taliban," Cone noted. "They are at heightened risk of violence and reprisals from the Taliban. Expelling them back to Afghanistan would most likely result in their deaths."

Additionally, Amnesty International called on Pakistani authorities in a statement Wednesday to stop the crackdown on Afghans and to not deport them, asserting such a move could put them at grave risk.

"They are living incredibly precarious lives where they are either having to undergo arduous processes for registering as refugees in Pakistan or are stuck in lengthy processes waiting to obtain relocation to another country," said Nadia Rahman, Amnesty’s interim regional deputy director for research in South Asia.

Rahman reiterated Amnesty’s calls to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to expedite registration and review applications from Afghans seeking international protection in Pakistan.

"The international community must act immediately to keep up their initial promises of providing protection to those fleeing persecution in Afghanistan."

Taliban, Rights Groups Decry Pakistan's Decision to Evict Afghan Immigrants

Pakistan has ordered undocumented immigrants, including more than 1.7 million Afghans, to leave the country by November 1

www.voanews.com

The hypocrisy is mind numbing. Build walls on one side. Accuse migrants crossing into Europe for being the cause of demise. Yet, dictate and force others to keep hosting illegal Afghan refugees because this is such a great noble thing to do...

 

[Oldman1]

This is really unsustainable and the US should do something about it.

Ship containers as border wall was a good way to go and was quick and cheap. If they build it higher like 4 stories higher and double the thickness of it. Also build a moat or ditch as well in front of the wall. There were flaws in the design of the ship containers as walls since powerful winds blew some of it and large gaps when put on hills. Hence the need to double wall it. Also need to make it it like brick pattern so no straight line gaps between. Need to dig in the dirt to make the containers straight and flat more when facing the hills or bumps on the ground. They have the capability and patience to do this correctly.

 

[Bengal71]

Ship containers as border wall was a good way to go and was quick and cheap. If they build it higher like 4 stories higher and double the thickness of it. Also build a moat or ditch as well in front of the wall. There were flaws in the design of the ship containers as walls since powerful winds blew some of it and large gaps when put on hills. Hence the need to double wall it. Also need to make it it like brick pattern so no straight line gaps between. Need to dig in the dirt to make the containers straight and flat more when facing the hills or bumps on the ground. They have the capability and patience to do this correctly.

A wall design has never been the problem, there can be many innovative ideas. The problem is in the political will to do something about the illegal migrant problem.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Ship containers as border wall was a good way to go and was quick and cheap. If they build it higher like 4 stories higher and double the thickness of it. Also build a moat or ditch as well in front of the wall. There were flaws in the design of the ship containers as walls since powerful winds blew some of it and large gaps when put on hills. Hence the need to double wall it. Also need to make it it like brick pattern so no straight line gaps between. Need to dig in the dirt to make the containers straight and flat more when facing the hills or bumps on the ground. They have the capability and patience to do this correctly.

We could also do the Cuban way of adding a cactus curtain or the nastiest Poison Ivy.

 

[Azadkashmir]

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

LOL I knew that busing the illegal migrants into so called Sanctuaries by Democrats going to bite them in the butt when it really happens to them.

I say Texas should send the rest up.
When the Democrats beg for Federal money to bail out their cities we just say F-No! Where was the bailout for the last few decades for border cities??

Also they should give each of them a t-shirt with a picture of the Santuary City Mayors on it that says "Please take me to your leader".