Remember Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful wall?” Joe Biden — who once said “not another foot” of wall would be completed — is building it. Really.
The White House announced last week it will “take immediate action” to complete a new portion of barrier wall in Texas at the border with Mexico, Texas Tribune reported, a startling step amidst an influx of migrants that has bedeviled Democrats. The news “sparked outrage” among migrant advocates who once backed Biden in his 2020 challenge to Trump. The wall is a “horrific step backwards that we just didn’t expect to see from this administration,” one activist said.
Biden’s “stunning” decision “has many critics,” Yahoo News reported. The president admittedly doesn’t seem all that enthusiastic about the project — telling reporters “his hands are tied” by a 2019 law appropriating money for the wall. Does Biden think a border wall will actually work to keep out migrants? “No,” he said. At least one person is positively gleeful about the move, however: “Former President Donald Trump demanded an apology from Biden.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
'Don't be fooled'
Eric Levitz of New York was skeptical of Biden’s explanation for the move. Given public negativity about the rush of asylum seekers at the border, “it is hard not to suspect that Biden’s action is a willful attempt to improve his electoral prospects.” The problem? It won’t work. “No border wall can keep the Democrats’ immigration problem at bay.”
“At least some key administration officials have come around to reality on border security,” Dave Seminara wrote for City Journal, a conservative outlet. Biden’s decision to construct the wall — or, really, one very small portion of it — won’t be “transformative” but it is likely to put him in the annals of great presidential flip-floppers alongside George H.W. Bush’s infamous “no new taxes” pledge. “We’ll see how Biden explains it to voters when campaign season begins.”
Other conservatives are less impressed. “Don’t be fooled,” Nolan Rappaport argued at Fox News. The administration may be building new physical barriers to unauthorized border crossings, but it has made it more possible for undocumented migrants to “be admitted through one of the legal pathways” Biden has made available. Very few newcomers are turned away. The wall may reduce dangerous border crossings, but Biden is still intent to “let as many undocumented migrants as possible into the United States.”
“Biden’s border wall won’t work to keep migrants out or to placate critics,” Elvia Díaz wrote at The Arizona Republic. The immigration issue has become Biden’s “biggest liability” on the cusp of his reelection campaign, in part because migrants “are overwhelming Democratic-strong enclaves” like New York and Chicago. One problem: It’s not clear where Biden stands. He promised “humane” migration enforcement, but has left some Trump policies in place. Now the wall. It’s confusing. “What exactly is Biden’s immigration strategy?”
'Taking Latino voters for granted'
There is disdain coming from Biden’s left. The wall decision is “another example of him taking for granted the Latino voters he needs to win,” Julio Ricardo Varela wrote for MSNBC. It means that Biden’s policies are far more Trump-like than the president would ever admit, “just another acquiescence to Republican policy.” That’s dangerous for 2024: “Latino voters will be voting more on Biden’s record and less against Trump.”
“Why is Joe Biden campaigning for Donald Trump?” Moustafa Bayoumi asked at The Guardian. The wall announcement is “an admission of defeat” by Democrats on border policy, and a “humanitarian failure from this administration.” Yes, there are large numbers of people coming across the southern border. But the solution must be “fair, just and humane.” A wall won’t keep migrants out, and it won’t help Biden with conservative voters. “This is not just bad policy. It’s bad politics.”
This isn’t just Biden’s fault, though. “Just about everyone in Washington is to blame” for the migrant crisis, Jay Evensen argued at Deseret News. There are plenty of “reasonable” reforms to be made. “Congress has done nothing.” And that means Joe Biden is building the controversial wall that his predecessor famously sought.
