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DHS’ Mayorkas Maintains ‘Border Wall Is Not the Answer’
After the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it will build additional miles of border wall in south Texas, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reiterated President Joe Biden's border policy, saying that “a border wall is not the answer” to stopping illegal immigration.
The construction of roughly 20 miles of border wall in Starr County, Texas, which is located across from Tamaulipas, Mexico, was announced this week by Biden's DHS.
Biden and Mayorkas were immediately met with growing condemnation from the Democratic Party's extreme left, including from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who asked the DHS to “turn direction” in a statement:
“A wall does nothing to deter people who are fleeing poverty and violence from coming to the United States. You do not risk your life or your childrens’ lives going through the Darién Gap or traversing hundreds of miles of desert if you have any other options. Walls only serve to push migrants into more remote areas, increasing their chances of death. It is a cruel policy.”
Late on Thursday, Mayorkas responded by releasing a statement in which she said that the federal notification about the building of the border wall had been “taken out of context” and did not indicate any change in policy at all.
“I want to address today’s reporting relating to a border wall and be absolutely clear: There is no new administration policy with respect to border walls. From day one, this administration has made clear that a border wall is not the answer,” Mayorkas said. “That remains our position and our position has never wavered.”
Mayorkas also advocated for Congress to revoke any funds for border wall construction that had been given under the previous administration of President Donald Trump.
“We have repeatedly asked Congress to rescind this money but it has not done so and we are compelled to follow the law,” Mayorkas noted.
The building of extra miles of border wall is unlikely to reduce illegal immigration levels under Biden's existing border policy, which urges border crossers and illegal aliens to come to ports of entry (POEs) before being released into American neighborhoods.
Via its extensive Capture and Release network, Biden's DHS releases more than 60,000 border crossers and illegal aliens into the interior of the United States each month.
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