--- title: In Reversal, Biden to Expand Border Wall in Texas description: Biden vowed to not build "another foot” of Trump's border wall. Now he's building 17 miles of it, but doing so grudgingly. canonical: https://time.com/6320907/border-wall-biden-migrant-surge/ author: Brian Bennett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-10-05T16:37:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-10-05T19:45:27.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: In Reversal, Biden to Expand Border Wall in Texas og:description: Biden vowed to not build "another foot” of Trump's border wall. Now he's building 17 miles of it, but doing so grudgingly. og:url: https://time.com/6320907/border-wall-biden-migrant-surge/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte172a091dbbfa99b/698a40fe16d884d5c1c3c4d6/GettyImages-1489040102.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Migrant Crossings At Southern Border Increase Ahead Of Title 42 Expiration og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: In Reversal, Biden to Expand Border Wall in Texas twitter:description: Biden vowed to not build "another foot” of Trump's border wall. Now he's building 17 miles of it, but doing so grudgingly. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte172a091dbbfa99b/698a40fe16d884d5c1c3c4d6/GettyImages-1489040102.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 02:04 video:published: 2023-10-05 section: politics topics: border wall, waiver of federal laws, border security, Congress appropriations, Customs and Border Protection, detention beds, fentanyl trafficking, border technology genre: news, interview tones: defensive, formal, measured emotions: frustration (medium), determination (medium), defensiveness (low) sentiment: neutral audience: voters, policy watchers, immigration followers, political journalists people: Joe Biden organizations: Congress, Customs and Border Protection, Republican leadership content_suitability: politics [00:00-02:04]; crime [02:02-02:04] transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # In Reversal, Biden Moves to Expand Border Wall > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=4103483a-e1e0-4338-9633-5a4e4e7825fb&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: In Reversal, Biden Moves to Expand Border Wall [Watch (HLS stream): In Reversal, Biden Moves to Expand Border Wall](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Qlz4RLXV.m3u8) (2:04)  _Published 2023-10-05. President Joe Biden defended his administration's decision to waive 26 federal laws in South Texas to allow for construction of roughly 20 miles of U.S.-Mexico border wall, saying he had no choice but to use the previously approved federal money for the work._ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary President Joe Biden explains why his administration waived 26 federal laws in South Texas to allow construction of about 20 miles of border wall, saying he had no choice but to use previously appropriated funds. He says he asked Congress to redirect the money and that the administration prefers modernized border technology and land ports of entry over a wall. He notes the waiver decision was made earlier and points to a prior Republican administration's push for the wall. He closes by listing additional border security resources the president requested from Congress. ## Key points - Biden said the money was appropriated for the border wall and that he tried to get Congress to redirect it, but they would not. (00:00) - Biden said the administration is complying with the law and does not believe a wall is the effective approach to border security. (00:20) - Biden said the administration believes in modernizing the system and favors border technology and modernized land ports of entry. (00:27) - Biden said the site was pushed forward under a Republican president in 2019 and that Republican leadership was bored with the project. (00:45) - Biden said the decision was made six months earlier and was not new, though reporters were only now asking about it. (01:00) - Biden said the administration has repeatedly asked Congress to ensure Customs and Border Protection has the resources it needs. (01:15) - Biden said he asked Congress for up to 4,000 more troops, overtime resources, 24,000 more Customs and Border Protection personnel, and 39,000 more detention beds. (01:47) - Biden said he also requested new technology to prevent cartels from smuggling fentanyl and said Republicans failed to act on these requests. (02:02) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:32] Explaining the money and the wall decision. Biden says the funds were appropriated for the wall and that he sought to redirect them but Congress refused. - [00:32 to 01:04] Complying with law and disputing wall effectiveness. Biden says the administration is following the law, believes a wall is not effective, and points to a 2019 Republican push for the project. - [01:04 to 01:47] Emphasizing technology and ports of entry. Biden argues the decision was made six months ago and that modernized technology and ports of entry are more effective. - [01:47 to 02:04] Listing requested border resources. Biden details the troops, personnel, detention beds, and technology he asked Congress to fund. ## Key quotes - [00:00] Joe Biden: "The money was appropriated for the border wall." - [00:02] Joe Biden: "I tried to get some very appropriate to redirect that money." - [00:20] Joe Biden: "We believe in the rule of law." - [00:27] Joe Biden: "We do believe in modernizing the system not actually building a wall." - [01:00] Joe Biden: "This was actually not new." - [02:02] Joe Biden: "new technology to prevent cartels removing Fentanyl" ## Questions this video answers - Did Biden try to redirect the border wall funding? [00:02] - Does the Biden administration believe a border wall is effective? [00:27] - Who first pushed the border wall project forward? [00:45] - What other border security measures has the administration requested from Congress? [01:47] ## Content suitability - politics [00:00-02:04]: Discussion of border wall policy, federal waivers, and congressional funding disputes. - crime [02:02-02:04]: Mention of cartels smuggling fentanyl.  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME. Updated: Oct 5, 2023 7:45 PM UTCPublished: Oct 5, 2023 4:37 PM UTC President Joe Biden defended his administration's decision to waive 26 federal laws in South Texas to allow for construction of roughly 20 miles of U.S.-Mexico border wall, saying he had no choice but to use the previously approved federal money for the work.  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME. Updated: Oct 5, 2023 7:45 PM UTCPublished: Oct 5, 2023 4:37 PM UTC When he was running to unseat Donald Trump in 2020, Joe Biden promised there would be “not another foot” built of the border wall, a divisive manifestation of Trump's four-year crackdown on migration into the country. Now Biden is adding to Trump’s wall. Amid a surge of migrants crossing into the country, the administration is moving forward with construction of 18-foot tall steel fencing along about 17 miles of land near the Rio Grande in southern Texas, according to a notice published in the Federal Register on Thursday. The notice describes the area as one where Border Patrol agents have seen high numbers of people crossing between ports of entry. "There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States." Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas wrote in the notice. In the Oval Office on Thursday, Biden made clear that he was moving forward with wall construction grudgingly, in order to comply with funds appropriated by Congress in 2019\. He said he had tried and failed to get Congress to redirect the funding it had allocated for wall construction in south Texas. "The money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to reappropriate, to redirect that money. They didn’t. They wouldn’t. In the meantime, there’s nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what it was appropriated for. I can’t stop that," he said. **Read more**: [_Amid House Chaos, Biden Faces Shrunken Legislative Agenda_](https://time.com/6320700/joe-biden-house-speaker-shutdowns-ukraine/) He was then asked if he believes border walls work. Biden said, "No." Border Patrol agents and experts have said physical barriers at the border can be helpful in the right locations. In areas close to cities and Border Patrol stations, barriers can slow down migrants trying to cross between ports of entry or direct them to cross in areas with more surveillance. But in remote areas, where it can take hours or days to patrol, Border Patrol agents find sensors and cameras are more useful than barriers, which are expensive and time-consuming to maintain and repair. The new sections of wall are set to be built along a section of the Rio Grande in Starr County, Texas, that winds south from the Falcon Dam to McAllen. Some of the new steel bollards will run through the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, raising concerns that the barriers and road construction needed to maintain them will disrupt fragile wildlife habitat and animal migration patterns. The[ Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/border-wall-biden-immigration-texas-rio-grande-147d7ab497e6991e9ea929242f21ceb2) reported earlier on the Federal Register notice, which cites powers given to the Secretary of Homeland Security to waive environmental laws and other restrictions to speed up the construction of barriers and roads along the U.S. border. The Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley sector in Southeast Texas is considered an area of "high illegal entry," according to the notice published Thursday, and Border Patrol agents encountered more than 245,000 people trying to enter the US between ports of entry in that area during the 10 months leading up to early August. That rise in entries, Mayorkas stated, prompted him to use his authority to "install additional physical barriers and roads." During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised to build a wall across the entire 2,000-mile border. By the time he left office, he'd installed just over 450 miles of tall steel fencing, most of it replacing existing barriers. Trump only constructed 52 miles of new border wall. Four years later, Biden was clear as a presidential candidate that he wasn’t going to add to the border wall. "There will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration,” Biden said during an [interview](https://www.npr.org/2020/08/05/899266045/biden-would-end-border-wall-construction-but-wont-tear-down-trump-s-additions) in August 2020. On his first day as President, Biden filed a formal proclamation that halted construction of Trump's border wall and ended Trump's declaration of a national emergency on the southern border. "It shall be the policy of my Administration that no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall," Biden wrote in the Federal Register on Jan. 20, 2021\. That proclamation blocked funds for wall construction that Trump had ordered diverted from military spending and other projects. Biden also paused all funds that Congress had already designated for border wall construction and ordered those projects be reviewed. "Building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution," Biden wrote. "It is a waste of money that diverts attention away from genuine threats to our homeland security." Now Biden is ending that pause, albeit reluctantly, as he claimed he had no choice but to use money Congress allocated during his predecessor’s tenure for its stated purpose. ## Transcript [00:00] The border wall. [00:00] The money was appropriated for the border wall. [00:02] I tried to get some very appropriate to redirect that money. [00:06] They didn't they wouldn't. [00:08] And in the meantime, there's nothing under the law other than [00:11] they have to use money for was appropriate. [00:13] I can stop at Walmart. [00:18] This is a law that we are complying with that. [00:20] We have we have asked Congress multiple times or re-appropriate [00:23] this this is not the way that we believe is going to be effective [00:27] here. We do believe in modernizing the system not actually [00:30] building a wall. [00:32] The president said himself, he does not think this is effective [00:34] and so we're complying by law and we believe that the rule of [00:38] law here and we're moving forward and getting that in the end, [00:40] in following the law, we believe in the rule of law. [00:43] And that's what we're moving forward to with. [00:45] This was the site is, as you just said, [00:46] in 2019, I believe there was a different president 2019. [00:49] Right. That was a Republican president. [00:51] Who actually push this forward. [00:53] The Republican leadership was just bored. [00:55] And so now we're complying by, let's not forget, [00:57] this was six months ago, this was out there six months ago. [01:00] I know you guys are asking me about this now, [01:02] but this was actually not new. [01:04] And this was done 6 months ago, [01:06] we believe they're more effective ways of dealing with this, [01:09] a dealing with the border security. [01:10] And so, of course, we have repeatedly asked Congress to make [01:15] sure that CBP have the resources they need. [01:17] I have to do their jobs and we think there are other ways to [01:20] do that whether it's smarter, more effective, [01:23] border, security measures and so you know like Tech border [01:27] border technology believe that works when you modernize [01:30] that and also Lamport some lamb ports of Entry, [01:32] we believe that's what works to deal with border security. [01:36] And so we've been very clear that the president was very clear [01:40] about this. He doesn't believe, but believe of the board of walleye [01:43] is effective and that has not changed it. [01:47] August, the president told Congress, we need it up to four thousand [01:49] more troops out to support border operations, [01:52] resources equipment in overtime, to support the operations [01:55] of 24,000, more Customs and Border Protection. [01:58] 39,000 more detention beds, new technology to prevent cartels [02:02] removing Fentanyl and Republicans failed. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6320907/border-wall-biden-migrant-surge/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6320907/border-wall-biden-migrant-surge/"},"headline":"In Reversal, Biden Moves to Expand Border Wall","datePublished":"2023-10-05T16:37:06.000Z","dateModified":"2023-10-05T19:45:27.000Z","description":"The move comes after the President vowed to not build \"another foot” of Donald Trump's border wall in 2020.","url":"https://time.com/6320907/border-wall-biden-migrant-surge/","keywords":["border wall","Joe Biden"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte172a091dbbfa99b/698a40fe16d884d5c1c3c4d6/GettyImages-1489040102.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Brian Bennett","jobTitle":"Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte172a091dbbfa99b/698a40fe16d884d5c1c3c4d6/GettyImages-1489040102.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Migrant Crossings At Southern Border Increase Ahead Of Title 42 Expiration","caption":"Migrant Crossings At Southern Border Increase Ahead Of Title 42 Expiration","creditText":"John Moore—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/border-wall/","name":"border wall"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6320907/border-wall-biden-migrant-surge/","name":"In Reversal, Biden Moves to Expand Border Wall"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"In Reversal, Biden Moves to Expand Border Wall","description":"President Joe Biden defended his administration's decision to waive 26 federal laws in South Texas to allow for construction of roughly 20 miles of U.S.-Mexico border wall, saying he had no choice but to use the previously approved federal money for the work.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Qlz4RLXV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-10-05T19:42:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Qlz4RLXV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6320907/border-wall-biden-migrant-surge/","duration":"PT2M4S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6320907/border-wall-biden-migrant-surge/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```