Washington DC, United States: The administration of the President of the United States, Joe Biden, took an essential step on Wednesday. It has announced that around twenty-six (26) federal laws will be waived in South Texas to allow border wall construction.
This announcement marks the first-ever use of administration power to sweep the executive power, which was employed during the presidency of former president Donald Trump. It was posted on the US Federal Registry by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of the US.
The announcement also has a few details regarding the construction in Starr County, Texas. It is to be noted that it is part of a busy Border Patrol sector seeing “high illegal entry.”
The decision was announced after around 245,000 illegal entries (as per the government data) were recorded in this fiscal year. The illegal entries were reported in the Rio Grande Valley Sector, which contains 21 countries.
Through the notice, Secretary of the DHS Alejandro Mayorkas mentioned, “There is presently an acute as well as immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the US to prevent unlawful entries into the project areas of the United States.”
Federal Laws waived by the DHS:
The Department of Homeland Security waived the Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and Endangered Species Act. The objective behind this was to make way for the construction of the border wall, using funds from a congressional appropriation in the year 2019.
According to the reports, the waivers avoid reviews, which are time-consuming and lawsuits challenging violations of environmental laws.
Barrier construction during the Trump administration:
Under the leadership of Donald Trump, barriers of around 450 miles (724 kilometers) were constructed along the southwest border. The construction took place between 2017 and January 2021.
The work was halted by Joe Biden after he attained the presidency. However, it restarted after continuous efforts by the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott.
What does the opposition have to say?
A political debate was prompted by the Democratic administration, facing an increase of migrants entering through the southern border in recent months, including thousands who entered the US through Eagle Pass at the end of September, according to AP.
In this regard, US Representative Henry Cuellar shared a statement that read, “A border wall is a 14th century solution to a 21st century problem. It will not bolster border security in Starr County. I continue to stand against the wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars on an ineffective border wall.”
Starr County:
The Starr County hilly ranchlands are situated between Zapata and McAllen, Texas. It offers residence to around 65,000 people from approximately 1,200 square miles (3,108 kilometers), forming part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
Although no dedicated map was shown in the announcement, the project was announced by CBP in June and the general public has been sharing its comments since August, when it shared a map of the additional construction that can add up to 20 miles of land to the current existing border barrier system in the area.
Accordingly, Starr County Judge Eloy Vera outlined that the construction will begin from south of the Falcon Dam and will go till Salineño, Texas. He said, “The other concern that we have is that area is highly erosive. There’s a lot of arroyos.”
Further, he pointed out that creeks will cut through the ranchlands, leading into the river.
The concerns related to the environmental damages, such as structures running through public lands, habitats of endangered plants and species like the Ocelot, a spotted wild cat, were shared by the advocates.
In this regard, Laiken Jordahl, a southwest advocate for the Centre for Biological Diversity, stated, “A plan to build a wall through will bulldoze an impermeable barrier straight through the heart of that habitat. It will stop wildlife migrations dead in their tracks. It will destroy a huge amount of wildlife refuge land. And it’s a horrific step backward for the borderlands,” as per AP.