After halting new border wall construction upon taking office in 2021, the Biden administration is flip-flopping on its stance. The Department of Homeland Security announced they will waive dozens of federal laws to build a border wall in south Texas where illegal migration has surged. On “FOX & Friends” Thursday, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, joined host Lawrence Jones near Dallas and said he does not believe the administration will halt the flow of migrants.
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TED CRUZ: I think the end goal is two things. Number one, there’s a dynamic in the Democrat Party, which is they’ve gone crazy. And in particular, they’ve handed their policy agenda over to the radical fringe on every issue. … On law enforcement, they’re listening to the abolish the police and the defund the police nutcases in their party. You look on things like gender issues. They’re listening to the people that want to sterilize and mutilate children. I mean, those are the crazies. That’s not a mainstream view. And on immigration, they’re listening to the open borders radicals, the people in their party that believe we should not have borders. That’s part of it. And the other part of it is I think there’s some very cynical Democrat politicians and they look at 7.6 million people and they see them all as future Democrat voters. And so their view is they’re willing to look the other way. They’re willing to tolerate people being killed. They’re willing to tolerate children being brutalized. They’re willing to tolerate thousands of women being sexually assaulted and 100,000 people dying of drug overdoses because all of those issues, they say, are less important to them than bringing in a bunch of Democrats and flipping the entire country blue. It’s cynical as all get-out, and I see no indication that this administration wants change.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is citing an “acute and immediate need” to waive dozens of federal laws to build a border wall in south Texas where illegal migration has surged.
It’s a sharp contrast to dismissals of the use of such barriers in the early days of the administration.
The agency posted an announcement on the U.S. Federal Register that outlines construction in Starr County in the Rio Grande Valley Sector, where the administration says there is “high illegal entry.” The agency says there have been over 245,000 migrant encounters in the sector this fiscal year.
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Mayorkas says he is using his authority provided by Congress to waive 26 federal laws, including the Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and Endangered Species Act.
The administration had put a halt to new border wall construction in early 2021, after Biden had promised as a presidential candidate that there would “not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration.” The administration said wall construction under the Trump administration was “just one example of the prior administration’s misplaced priorities and failure to manage migration in a safe, orderly and humane way.”
A Border Patrol agent walks between a gap along the border wall between the US and Mexico in Yuma, Arizona on June 1, 2022. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
However, the construction is funded by the fiscal year 2019 DHS appropriations bill, which specifically funded wall projects in the RGV Sector and which DHS is required to use for its appropriated purpose.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced plans for up to 20 miles of wall in the RGV Sector in June. The administration previously made moves to close gaps and replace gates and says such projects prioritize the completion of activities and projects to address life, safety and operational risks – including the safety of individuals, Border Patrol agents and migrants.
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A CBP spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital the waiver is for barrier projects announced in June, and it will cover approximately 17 miles in Starr County. The spokesperson said the project is consistent with DHS’ plan to fulfill President Biden’s Jan. 20, 2021, proclamation that “ended the diversion of funds for border wall from military projects or other sources while calling for the expenditure of any funds Congress appropriated for barrier construction consistent with their appropriated purpose.”
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Fox News’ Brooke Singman, Bill Melugin and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.