In his usual morning press conference on Friday, Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Obrador stated that he did not believe that the new wall would be built. He also said that the Biden Administration does not even want to build it.
The Washington Free Beacon reported that Lopez Obrador referred to the wall as “pure publicity.” This presser was held following a visit on Thursday by a U.S. State Department delegation led by Antony Blinken. Lopez Obrador said that the administration doesn’t even want to construct the new sections. He said that the Mexican delegation stated during the meeting they do not believe a wall will solve the immigration problem. They added, “We have always talked about tending the root causes.”
Lopez Obrador has a point. The Free Beacon reported that, in another article, Biden said on Thursday that the administration was legally bound to complete the construction because the money had been appropriated for the project during the Trump Administration and could not be put towards anything else. Biden stated:
The money was allocated for the border wall. I asked them to redirect the money. They refused. The law says they must use the money as it was allocated. I can’t do anything about it.
It is a stark contrast from the statement made by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas earlier this week, in which he stated that there was an “acute and immediate need” to build physical barriers and roads near the border of the United States to prevent illegal entries. Of course, his statement in 2021 said that he didn’t agree with the building of a wall.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, never misses an opportunity to throw a tantrum. She called the construction plans a cruel policy on Thursday.
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) October 5, 2023
She should reconsider. She needs a place to take photos after Labor Day.
This is a classic case of disorganization by this administration. Mayorkas’s alarmist language may have been a result of Biden’s team needing to spin the situation when they learned that funding was not negotiable. It’s possible that the administration thought this was a way to win over voters who were angry or wary about Trump and his record.
If the wall was not completed, the blame would be placed on Republican obstructionists. Someone, somewhere realized that a new construction project would anger a large part of the base. Kathy Hochul, D-NY, may have gotten her hopes high in private. So tactics were changed, gears were ground and the message reversed.
And no matter what, the wall will not be built.
