Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday there is an “acute and immediate need” to build border wall in southern Texas, and issued an order waiving some of the country’s most iconic environmental protection laws to speed up construction.
Mr. Mayorkas identified dozens of miles of border where he plans to build a barrier and roads, and where he indicated those environmental laws would be a hindrance.
“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 in the project areas,” Mr. Mayorkas said in an official filing in the Federal Register. “In order to ensure the expeditious construction of the barriers and roads in the project areas, I have determined that it is necessary that I exercise the authority that is vested in me by section 102(c) of IIRIRA.”
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act gives the Homeland Security secretary the power to waive laws when necessary to facilitate border construction.
Mr. Mayorkas’s waiver covers 26 federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Eagle Protection Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
The secretary had previously announced he would build miles of wall, countering President Biden’s 2020 campaign promise that there would “not be another foot of wall constructed” by his administration.
Mr. Mayorkas said his hands were tied by the spending bills Congress passed, which required money be used for border wall construction. The administration delayed for several years, and pleaded with Congress to revoke the money, but those efforts failed.
But to declare the wall an “immediate” need and to waive the laws was too much for environmental groups.
“It’s disheartening to see President Biden stoop to this level, casting aside our nation’s bedrock environmental laws to build ineffective wildlife-killing border walls,” said Laiken Jordahl at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This is a horrific step backwards for the borderlands.”
The center said this is the first time the Biden administration has used the wall waiver authority.
The Trump administration was prolific with waivers as it built more than 450 miles of wall, drawing fierce condemnation from environmentalists.
A Government Accountability Office report last month said wall construction caused “significant damage” to sites sacred to Native Americans living along the border. The GAO dinged the government for failing to consult with communities about mitigating the impacts of the wall.
But GAO also took issue with Mr. Biden’s 2021 decision to halt construction, pointing out it also stopped remediation efforts to repair lands that had been disturbed during the building.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.