Biden Admin. Waives Dozens of Federal Laws to Build New Border Wall

Nikki McCann Ramirez
·2 min read
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The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it is waiving 26 laws to expedite the construction of about 20 miles of a border wall in Starr County, Texas.

In an announcement posted by the Department of Homeland Security on the Federal Registry, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas wrote that “there is presently 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” in areas of “high illegal entry.”

The notice outlines a series of laws that will be waived in order to speed up the construction, many of them related to environmental regulations and reviews typically required of large-scale construction projects. They include the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Noise Control Act, the Solid Waste Disposal Act, the Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act, the Fish and Wildlife Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.

Shortly after assuming office, President Biden issued a proclamation through the White House stating that “building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution.”

“It shall be the policy of my Administration that no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall,” the president wrote, calling for an immediate pause to ongoing construction. While Wednesday’s decision will not require the appropriation of additional funds from Congress, it reverses Biden’s past policy of stalling the wall’s construction.

The drive to build a border wall was a mainstay of Trump’s 2016 election campaign and throughout his presidency. During his years in office, only about 71 miles of new “wall” were constructed at the border, with the majority of investment going to renovating or upgrading about 500 miles of existing barriers. The total construction covers only about a quarter of the total length of the southern border.

In 2021, Biden paused construction, leaving funds appropriated by Congress for the construction of approximately 200 more miles of new barriers in bureaucratic limbo. Mayorkas wrote in his notice on Wednesday that the new “construction will be funded by a fiscal year 2019 appropriation” from Congress.

“DHS is required to use those funds for their appropriated purpose,” Mayorkas added.

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