Strike: Biden administration to expand Trump's wall on Mexico border

US to expand wall on Mexican border It represents a major U-turn for Joe Biden’s administration, which said upon taking office that building a massive wall, initiated by his predecessor Donald Trump, was “not a serious solution” to the massive influx of illegal immigrants. But Biden says he can’t stop the expansion of the wall and that it’s not his administration’s policy.

According to the National Security Agency, Homeland Security, there is a “grave and immediate need” to build more barriers along Mexico’s border. The new area will be built near the Rio Grande Valley in the US state of New Mexico. An estimated 245,000 people crossed the border illegally last year alone. Republicans in particular believe Biden needs to take tougher action there.

Migrants cross the Rio Grande from Mexico into the United States. Image taken on September 28. © Getty Images via AFP

In 2021, Biden said taxpayer money would not go toward building the wall. According to Biden, the funding now comes from funds already made available by Congress in 2019 when Trump was still president. He says he urged MPs to return the money, but they refused. “I can’t stop it anymore.”

Trump was delighted

Trump writes on his social media channel, Truth Social, that Biden’s plans prove that he was right when he started building the wall, and that the Democratic president took too long to expand the wall. “Will Joe Biden apologize to me for taking so long to act?”

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador considers the wall plans “a step back” and wants to talk to the Americans about it.