Joe, it’s too late to be mending fences

In a surprise to many, the Biden administration has announced it will resume construction of the southwest border wall, essentially picking up where former President Donald Trump left off. It’s just the latest flip-flop by a man who used to be a dogged proponent of such barriers to the free flow of drugs, terrorists and migrants into the United States, but he likely didn’t have much choice.

Few remember the 2006 NBC News profile in which then-Delaware Sen. Biden blamed illegal immigration on Mexico and called for a “tightening” of the border “with fences,” or his 2007 campaign speech in Iowa when he explained “no great nation can be in a position where they can’t control their borders,” while advocating for fencing to prevent cocaine smuggling.

That’s because by 2020 he was arguing that “a wall will do little to deter criminals and cartels seeking to exploit our borders,” a shift that likely had more to do with his hatred for his opponent (for whom walls were a key campaign talking point) than with any principled reassessment.

In one of his first acts as president, that new Joe Biden “paused” border wall construction even though Congress had already appropriated billions for it. In response, 40 Republican senators asked federal Comptroller General Gene Dodaro to find that Biden’s actions ran afoul of the Nixon-era Impoundment Control Act, which bars the president from sitting on appropriated funds.

In June 2021, Dodaro ruled that Biden’s delays in spending those funds were “programmatic” and that he was required to “perform environmental reviews and consult with various stakeholders.” 

One major issue with such claims is that Congress has already allowed DHS to waive most environmental restrictions in constructing border barriers, including in a 2005 law then-Sen. Biden voted for.

Dodaro, however, also suggested Congress demand a timeline for such expenditures. By then, the clock was ticking on Biden to use $190 million in unspent wall funding from 2019, which CBP alluded in June when announcing it would “move forward” on 20 miles of fencing in Arizona and California. 

Damage already done

That CBP announcement—likely reluctantly — also included the line: “The Administration continues to call on Congress to cancel or reappropriate remaining border barrier funding and instead fund smarter border security measures.”

It was wise for CBP to distance itself from that White House position, because agents know that “smarter border security measures” are usually just money-wasting high-tech boondoggles that DC grandees point to in arguing they’ve secured the border, while they do nothing to stop the drug and migrant flow.

Of course, there’s also a political slant to the administration’s resumption of border wall construction. CBP’s Border Wall System isn’t just fencing; its also lighting, sensors and all-weather roads.

Head to the border and you’ll see unplaced fence panels rusting on the ground, concrete stumps where light towers should be and partially completed roads that have washed away. The sensors don’t work, either, because the power hasn’t been hooked up. It was all part of the “pause.” 

With Democratic officials in northern cities now facing their own migrant crises and demanding White House border action, such images are stark reminders of how much Joe Biden’s flip-flops on border security have cost taxpayers.

Resuming border construction will help, but without a shift in the administration’s catch-and-release policies, it’s all for show, simply speeding up the rate at which agents can apprehend the migrants the administration will then force it to cut loose. Sen. Biden, circa 2007, would likely look at all this and say, “C’mon man, we can do better.” We need that Joe Biden back.

Andrew Arthur is the Center for Immigration Studies’ resident fellow in law and policy.