The head of the Department of Homeland Security told Congress on Wednesday that he will not ask President Biden to continue building the 30-foot-tall border wall.
The Biden administration paused border wall construction on Jan. 20 and directed federal officials to conduct a 60-day evaluation of wall projects and contracts.
The evaluation period is set to end this weekend. By that time, federal officials should have developed a plan to direct officials from the Defense Department and DHS to “take all appropriate steps to resume, modify, or terminate projects,” according to Biden’s Jan. 20 proclamation.
In Southern Arizona, more than 220 miles of border wall were built from the summer of 2019 to January, at a cost of roughly $4.8 billion. Federal officials planned to build about 20 more miles of wall in Arizona, mostly in the mountains between Nogales and Sasabe and in a canyon in the southeastern corner of Cochise County. Wall construction in those areas stopped after Biden’s proclamation.
On Wednesday, Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Florida, questioned DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about the future of the border wall at a hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security.
“Are you going to be asking the president to finish the wall, and the wall that has already been appropriated by Congress?” Gimenez asked Mayorkas.
“No, I will not,” Mayorkas replied, before he and Gimenez disputed how many Border Patrol agents want the wall finished.
DHS should not “rely exclusively on physical barriers,” Mayorkas said. “Because the border is not the same along its many miles of stretch and the migration challenges are not the same along the many miles of the border, on the south and in fact on the north, as well.”
Gimenez responded that agents told him “there were portions that were about to be rebuilt that were stopped and it made no sense. So I would ask you to reconsider what you’re saying,” Gimenez said.
Gimenez said he agreed “there are places where the wall is appropriate and there are places where the wall is not appropriate.” He said agents told him they need more technology, but the wall was a higher priority for them.
The head of the Border Patrol told the Star in October that the wall slows down illegal border crossings and stops large groups from crossing all at once. Critics of the wall say it is ineffective, unnecessary and damages the environment.
Mayorkas’ comments came in a wide-ranging hearing that touched on a recent rise in asylum-seeking families and children at the U.S.-Mexico border, cybersecurity and a number of other topics.
Arizona was the center of border wall construction under the Trump administration, due largely to the availability of federally controlled land along Arizona’s border with Mexico.
Along the Texas border, the Trump administration had to file numerous lawsuits to access privately owned land along Texas’ border with Mexico.
Neither Mayorkas nor Biden have addressed whether they plan to remove sections of the wall. Last month, a coalition of nearly 70 advocacy groups sent the administration a list of specific sections of wall that they want removed. That list included about 59 miles of wall in Southern Arizona that affect important wildlife corridors, habitat for endangered species and sacred tribal lands.
Biden’s proclamation applied to projects funded by roughly $10 billion from the Defense Department and about $5 billion from Congressional appropriations. Nearly all the wall projects in Arizona were funded by the Defense Department.
Photos: Border Wall Construction Over the San Pedro River
San Pedro River Border Wall Construction
Updated
A worker continues construction on the U.S./Mexico border fence over the San Pedro River near Hereford, Arizona on July 8, 2020. Behind him is Mexico.
San Pedro River Border Wall Construction
Updated
Construction continues on the U.S./Mexico border fence over the San Pedro River near Hereford, Arizona on July 8, 2020. Cement blocks are placed within a trench dug across where the river flows.
San Pedro River Border Wall Construction
Updated
Construction continues on the U.S./Mexico border fence over the San Pedro River near Hereford, Arizona on July 8, 2020. Cement blocks are placed within a trench dug across where the river flows.
San Pedro River Border Wall Construction
Updated
Construction continues on the U.S./Mexico border fence over the San Pedro River near Hereford, Arizona on July 8, 2020. Cement blocks are placed within a trench dug across where the river flows.
San Pedro River Border Wall Construction
Updated
Construction continues on the U.S./Mexico border fence over the San Pedro River near Hereford, Arizona on July 8, 2020. Cement blocks are placed within a trench dug across where the river flows.
San Pedro River Border Wall Construction
Updated
Construction continues on the U.S./Mexico border fence over the San Pedro River near Hereford, Arizona on July 8, 2020.
San Pedro River Border Wall Construction
Updated
Construction continues on the U.S./Mexico border fence over the San Pedro River near Hereford, Arizona on July 8, 2020. Cement blocks are placed within a trench dug across where the river flows.
San Pedro River Border Wall Construction
Updated
Construction continues on the U.S./Mexico border fence over the San Pedro River near Hereford, Arizona on July 8, 2020.
San Pedro River Border Wall Construction
Updated
Construction continues on the U.S./Mexico border fence over the San Pedro River near Hereford, Arizona on July 8, 2020. Cement blocks are placed within a trench dug across where the river flows. Mexico is on the right.
San Pedro River Border Wall Construction
Updated
New U.S./Mexico border fence near the San Pedro River near Hereford, Arizona on July 8, 2020.
San Pedro River Border Wall Construction
Updated
New U.S./Mexico border fence near the San Pedro River near Hereford, Arizona on July 8, 2020. "Made in the USA" is seen on the bollard fence.
San Pedro River Border Wall Construction
Updated
Construction continues on the U.S./Mexico border fence over the San Pedro River near Hereford, Arizona on July 8, 2020. Cement blocks are placed within a trench dug across where the river flows.
High-ranking border officials come to Tucson to praise Trump, blast Twitter
UpdatedTwo high-ranking border officials came to Tucson on Monday to tout President Trump’s border policies and to berate Twitter for locking one of them out of their account last week.
Monday’s news conference was the latest in a string of recent visits by Trump administration officials to Arizona, which could become a key swing state in the presidential election. Both President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence visited Arizona in recent weeks, as did Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt.
Democratic candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris also visited Arizona recently.
Mark Morgan, the senior official performing the duties of commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, and Ken Cuccinelli, the senior official performing the duties of deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, flew over the border area south of Tucson in a helicopter before landing at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base late Monday morning to speak to reporters.
Both officials were effusive in their praise of President Trump’s border policies, particularly the construction of roughly 400 miles of 30-foot-tall border wall and the sharp drop in border apprehensions since last year when hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Cuccinelli cited “unprecedented achievements” by the administration, which “put its promises into action.” He praised Trump’s “relentless leadership and drive.”
Among those achievements was the seizure of more hard drugs, such as fentanyl and methamphetamine, in the last four years than in the previous eight years.
Video provided by the Yuma Sector Border Patrol shows a group of 108 Central American migrants being dropped over the U.S.-Mexico border wall …
The administration “took bold action” to address the crisis at the border last year and listened to what Border Patrol agents said they needed at the border, Morgan said.
“To me, as acting commissioner, this is very much an apolitical statement when I say that this president listened and this president delivered. That’s just a fact,” Morgan said.
Neither official seemed concerned about the propriety of DHS officials making what could be seen as a campaign stop for President Trump hours before the polls open.
When asked why the officials came to Tucson the day before the presidential election and whether the visit could be viewed as an effort to sway voters, Cuccinelli said he hadn’t been to the Arizona border yet and the state was “on the cycle to do.”
“We don’t stop doing our job because there’s an election coming or going and this is part of that whole effort,” Cuccinelli said.
The second focus of Monday’s news conference was a tweet posted by Morgan on Oct. 28, which prompted Twitter moderators to take it down and lock Morgan out of his account for about 20 hours.
Morgan’s Oct. 28 tweet said that CBP and the Army Corps of Engineers “continue to build new wall every day. Every mile helps us stop gang members, murderers, sexual predators, and drugs from entering our country. It’s a fact, walls work.”
In response to Twitter blocking Morgan’s account, Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf wrote a letter to Twitter executives.
Twitter moderators emailed Morgan, saying, “You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease,” Wolf wrote in the letter.
“There was no reason to remove Mr. Morgan’s tweet from your platform, other than ideological disagreement with the speaker,” Wolf wrote. “Such censorship is disturbing.”
Construction crews have begun laying the foundation for a 30-foot-tall border wall across the San Pedro River in Cochise County.The long-delay…
