WASHINGTON — President Biden said Thursday that he “can’t stop” construction of new sections of the US-Mexico border wall because Congress wouldn’t rescind spending on it — as he waived 26 federal laws to restart former President Donald Trump’s pet project amid record-breaking illegal immigration.

“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,” Biden told reporters in the Oval Office.

“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 insisted.

Asked if he thought the border wall was effective, the president replied, “No.”

The administration said Wednesday it was waiving 26 federal laws — including the Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and Endangered Species Act  — to fast-track construction of new sections of border wall along Texas’ border with Mexico.

The waivers streamline a process of reviews and potential litigation to speed along the project, which Biden had halted shortly after taking office in January 2021.

The funding for the new construction was approved by Congress in 2019.

Biden restarted Trump’s wall after about 233,000 migrants were detained for illegally entering the US in August — more than had crossed in already-elevated waves in August 2021 and August 2022.

An ABC News poll last month found that Biden has just 23% approval from the public on his handling of immigration and the border, making it a major political liability going into his expected rematch next year against Trump.

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The fiscal year 2023, which ended Sept. 30, is on track to break all annual records of illegal immigration, with more than 2.2 million apprehensions already recorded.

Statistics for September have yet to be released.

Fiscal 2022 had 2.38 million Southwest border detentions, up dramatically from 1.73 million the year prior, the first of the border surge under Biden, according to Customs and Border Protection data.