Building a wall along the southern border was the signature issue that helped Donald Trump win the presidency. In the 2020 presidential campaign, candidate Joe Biden promised he would stop the wall. However, now that he is president, the construction of the wall in South Texas is restarting.
This week, the Biden administration announced they waived 26 federal laws to allow border wall construction, marking the administration’s first use of sweeping executive power to pave the way for building more border barriers.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Biden said the border wall construction was beyond his control since Congress has appropriated the money for the project.
“The border wall – the money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to re-appropriate to redirect that money. They didn’t. They wouldn’t. And in the meantime, they have to use the money for what it was appropriated. I can’t stop that,” said Biden.
Reporter: “Do you believe that border walls work?”
Biden: “No”
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejando Mayorkas said the wall building is moving forward and there is no administrative reversal.
“I want to address today’s reporting relating to a border wall. There is no new administration policy with respect to the border wall. Allow me to repeat that: there is no new administration policy with respect to the border wall. From day one, this administration has made clear that a border wall is not the answer,” said Mayorkas.
Nevertheless, Mayorkas also said the current immigration chaos on the border has created “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.”
This new stretch of border wall is set to be built in Starr County which is in Congressman Henry Cuellar’s district. I spoke to the border Democrat about the building of Biden’s wall.
“I'm on the Appropriations Committee and I do understand the Empowerment Control Act of 1974 that forces Biden to spend the money that the Trump administration or the Republican Congress had instructed him to do that,” said Cuellar.
“That, I understand. But what I don't understand, and I'm still trying to get an answer from the administration, is why did they have to waive the environmental laws? There's nothing that forces them. I saw one of the responses on the news. They said we have to do that so we can move on it. Wrong! They can still go with the process. They can still follow all their environmental laws. Nothing forced them to waive the environmental laws. That's the part that I don't have an answer and does upset me,” he said.
For more on the Biden Administration’s decision to move forward on expanding the border wall and more I spoke with Nick Miroff a reporter for the Washington Post. His recent byline is for the story “Biden officials will resume Venezuela deportations, extend border wall.”
Gun Violence
When it comes to experiencing trauma from gun violence, psychologists tell us you didn’t have to have first-hand direct contact with an active shooter event to be traumatized by it and suffer from it. If you have some slight association with the gunshot victims or that location where there was an active shooter, that’s more than enough to affect you. Such is the case with the May shooting in Allen, Texas. The Nazi-inspired shooting happened at a shopping center, but the entire community has healing to do. KERA's Caroline Love has the story.
Book Bans
Texas school districts are second only to Florida in the number of books banned in classrooms and libraries during the 2022-23 school year. Banned books in Texas include The Diary of Ann Frank and The Hobbit. KUT's Becky Fogel reports on how young people are watching their favorite books disappearing—and they are worried about what the future holds.
Viva Terlingua
It might seem like an obvious thing that Texas would have its own music scene with artists who find ways to capture the wild and unconventional spirit of the state. But there was a time when such a thing did not exist. Music came from Nashville and L.A. – and it wasn’t until a one-of-a-kind album broke though that things changed. That was fifty years ago – and it was Jerry Jeff Walker’s “¡Viva Terlingua!” TPR’s Jack Morgan has the story.
