Biden defends border wall construction, says he has to use funds

WASHINGTON

US President Joe Biden sought Thursday to push back on criticism of his decision to continue building his predecessor's wall along the US-Mexico border, saying he had to use the appropriated funding as a matter of law.

"When money was appropriated for the border wall, I tried to get them to reappropriate it, to redirect that money. They wouldn't," he told reporters in the Oval Office as he prepared to head into a closed-door meeting with his national security team to discuss Ukraine.

"In the meantime, there's nothing under the law other than that they have to use the money for what it was appropriated for. I can't stop that," he said.

Asked if he believed the wall works, Biden simply said, "No."

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced late Wednesday that it would waive 26 federal laws to continue construction of the wall in the Rio Grande Valley, and would construct reinforced fencing, barriers, roads, lighting, cameras and sensors at the southwest border.

DHS said the Rio Grande Valley has seen an influx of nearly 250,000 immigrants in the past two months.

"The United States Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector is an area of 'high illegal entry,'" Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. "As of early August 2023, Border Patrol had encountered over 245,000 such entrants attempting to enter the United States between ports of entry in the Rio Grande Valley."

The construction, which was announced in June, marks a 180-degree turn in policy for President Joe Biden, who pledged during the 2020 presidential campaign that not "another foot of wall" would be constructed.

But the increased number of undocumented immigrants from Mexico through the state of Texas has prompted his administration to take action.