DHS to Use Unspent Wall Funding on Environmental Pursuits

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that unused border wall funding appropriated to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will go towards environmental stewardship rather than border security. This comes as the U.S. faces an unprecedented border crisis with over 230,000 illegal aliens apprehended in the month of May and over 1.5 million aliens apprehended since October 2021.

Since taking office in January 2021, President Joe Biden and his administration have used every tool at their disposal to dismantle border security and reverse the successes of the prior administration. On his first day in office, President Biden ended all new construction for the southern border wall, even though many of the materials had already been purchased.

DHS’s announcement highlights the warped priorities of the Biden administration. Since Biden took office in January 2021, CBP has encountered over 2.9 million illegal aliens. DHS has the ability to direct resources towards strengthening our border security. Instead, they will use it to prioritize environmental remediation, according to their announcement:

DHS has found significant life, safety, and environmental hazards from incomplete border barrier construction projects under the prior Administration. This Amendment will allow DHS to utilize border barrier system funding from Fiscal Year 2020 to continue to prioritize remediation activities for the border barrier projects previously executed by the Department of Defense.  DHS will also continue to work with the Department of Interior and other interagency partners on long-term environmental remediation and mitigation.

DHS claims this supports “DHS priorities to deploy modern, effective border security measures along the Southwest Border.” What about this plan is effective? Any “environmental hazards from incomplete border barrier construction projects” are the result of the Biden administration’s own decisions to stop already-funded border construction in the first place.

The Biden administration’s continued policy of eliminating immigration enforcement has led to disastrous consequences: record-high apprehensions, the worst border crisis in American history, the worsening of drug trafficking, and widespread disapproval of Biden’s record on immigration. The use of border wall funding to fund environmental clean-up is just another example of the administration’s refusal to address the seriousness of the ongoing border crisis.