President Biden has vowed not to build “another foot” of border wall during his presidency, but is willing to spend $950 million maintaining existing infrastructure.
The Biden administration, which changed course last month and announced it will build a new section of the wall in Texas, allocated the money to repair and improve existing border walls in the Lone Star State, California and Arizona, according to a court filing. .
Customs and Border Protection reported that four separate contracts have been awarded for “system attribute installation and remediation work” at sites in Tucson, San Diego, El Paso and El Centro.
The work will include installing cameras, new roads and “detection technology” that will make the barriers more effective in stemming the flow of illegal immigrants, the documents state.
Remediation work will fill border gaps, install gates, fix nearby patrol roads and address erosion and drainage issues in the immediate areas.
The Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, admitted this week that 600,000 people entered the United States illegally without being detained by border agents between September 2022 and October 1 of this year.
The Biden administration will spend $950 million maintaining existing border wall infrastructure. AFP via Getty Images The administration changed course last month and announced it would build a new section of the wall in Texas. AFP via Getty Images
They join the 900,000 people around the world who were legally admitted across the southern border to file immigration claims with CBP in the same period.
Funds for wall repairs will be drawn from the fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2021 budgets, according to documents filed as part of a court declaration signed by Paul Enriquez, portfolio director of infrastructure for the U.S. Border Patrol.
Four separate contracts have been awarded for work at sites in Tucson, San Diego, El Paso and El Centro.REUTERS
Wall advocates howled last month after it was revealed that the Biden administration allocated $229 million for construction of 17 miles of new border wall in Starr County, Texas.
The Department of Homeland Security accelerated that process by waiving local environmental and preservation laws that would otherwise have prolonged construction.
Administration officials defended the allocation, arguing that the money had already been earmarked for wall work in Congress and Biden had few options to use it.
The Biden administration allocated $229 million to build 17 miles of new border wall in Texas.REUTERS
But environmentalists said overcoming environmental hurdles contradicted Biden’s anti-wall stance.
The administration awarded the Starr County project contract to Galveston-based SLSCO Ltd., a company that built border walls during the Trump administration.
“Clearly, under the Biden administration, DHS has no more respect for border residents than it did under the Trump administration,” Scott Nicol, a longtime anti-wall activist and researcher and board member of Friends of the Wildlife Corridor, based in the Valley. Texas Observer.
“Biden should use the remaining funds to mitigate some of the damage border walls have already caused, not waste hundreds of millions of dollars to inflict more destruction.”
Local Starr County officials have questioned the placement of the new walls in their area, saying it is sparsely populated and environmentally sensitive.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn