border wall
© UnknownBorder wall between USA and Mexico
The Biden administration's Department of Homeland Security recently cancelled US border wall contracts, with the reason being the available funds needed to be "consistent with their appropriated purpose" under the current law.

In terms of official numbers, when Pew Research last checked in, migrant encounters at the United States-Mexico border were at a 21-year high. Internationally, people as far away as Uzbekistan recognize that America's southern border is an open door they can walk in.

The government press release lists the details, specifically that the Department of Homeland Security's border plan now entails cancelling all contracts for the Border Patrol throughout the Laredo and Rio Grande Valley sectors of the border.

The next section of the press release outlines environmental related prep work that the CBP will undergo:
"CBP will then begin environmental planning and actions consistent with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for previously planned border barrier system projects located within the Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, and El Centro Sectors.

"Environmental planning activities will cover projects funded with DHS's Fiscal Year 2018-2021 barrier system appropriations where construction had not started. These activities include additional biological, cultural, and natural resource surveys for project areas where no data have been previously collected. CBP will also conduct comprehensive and targeted outreach with interested stakeholders, including impacted landowners, tribes, state and local elected officials, and federal agencies."

Comment: What is 'unenvironmental' about a simple, straightforward wall (that works!)?


A story from Fox News today outlines the reality at the border. Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee had a chance to meet with law enforcement officials at the border. She also met with ranchers in the area who had their fences destroyed.

The cost of repairs is left up to the farmers to figure out. But the Biden administration is punting the problem onto Congress, according to the press release:
"The Administration continues to call on Congress to cancel remaining border wall funding and instead fund smarter border security measures, like border technology and modernization of land ports of entry, that are proven to be more effective at improving safety and security at the border."
In terms of solutions, Vice President Kamala Harris decided going to Guatemala and telling migrants to their faces not to come to America would work. It didn't.

Instead, as we saw with the Del Rio situation involving thousands of Haitian migrants, Biden's border crisis worsened. Biden both sent more agents to deal with the problem, but then recoiled in political disgust after a so-called "horse whips" debacle briefly painted border patrol agents in a negative light. Biden recently failed to meet the self-imposed deadline for finding out what happened there.


Comment: There were no 'whips'. They proved to be horse reins.