The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will resume construction on a portion of the border wall levee to help prevent flooding, according to Fox News.
Construction is set to resume on a 13.4 mile stretch of levee wall in the Rio Grande after complaints from local residents and politicians, according to the report. Repairs are set to take place in six weeks, while the construction of a concrete levee wall fit will be put into place in six to nine months.
UPDATE: @FoxNews has confirmed via the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that construction on a 13.4 mile stretch of border wall levee in the Rio Grande Valley will *RESUME* after pressure from local residents & politicians.
The Biden admin previously halted all construction.— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) May 13, 2021
USACE announced it has “resumed DHS-funded design & construction support on approx. 13.4 miles of levee in the Rio Grande Valley that were partially excavated or at various levels of construction when work on the wall was paused for review.”
The statement said USACE had started work to repair the Rio Grande Valley’s flood levee, but “this remediation work will not involve expanding border barrier.”
The Biden administration had previously halted the border wall construction in January, saying the wall was “not a serious policy solution.”
“Building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution. It is a waste of money that diverts attention from genuine threats to our homeland security. My Administration is committed to ensuring that the United States has a comprehensive and humane immigration system that operates consistently with our Nation’s values,” read a statement from the White House.
A Harvard CAPS-Harris poll shared with The Hill in early May found that 80% of respondents said the current situation at the border is “a crisis that needs to be addressed immediately, while 20% said it was “something that can be dealt with by the immigration system we have currently.” (RELATED: Poll: Vast Majority Of Voters Consider Border Situation A ‘Crisis’)
Neither President Joe Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris has been to the southern border amid the recent influx of migrants. White House press secretary Jen Psaki stated in recent weeks that the Trump administration was responsible for the influx of migrants.
“After four years of an immigration system rooted in destructive and chaotic policies, President Biden is taking the challenge head-on and is building a fair, orderly, and humane immigration system,” Psaki said. “That’s our objective. After coming into office, our administration immediately jumped into action to address the influx of migrants at the border – something that began during and was exacerbated by the Trump administration.”