Border walls were first built for protection, to stop the incursion of a city or a small town from thieves and conquering armies. Did they work? Yes, to the extent of their original purpose. Walls have shaped civilization as we know it to allow people to sleep through the night with a sense of security.
That hasn’t changed. The U.S-Mexico border wall — be it the brainchild of Donald Trump or President Joe Biden — still sends the message that there is an invasion that must be stopped. But there are no armies, just people begging on the other side to be let in for a better life.
When Biden ran for president, he said that he would not build another inch of the wall Trump infamously pushed for. On the first day of his presidency, Jan. 20, 2021, Biden signed an executive order stopping the construction of the wall and stating that it was “not a serious policy solution” and “a waste of money.” Congress, however, had other ideas.
Now, more than two and a half years into his presidency, the Biden administration has reauthorized the construction. The reasoning behind Congress’ decision is the government’s approximation of 245,000 illegal entries into the U.S. since the beginning of the year. This has been done over the Biden administration’s objections. In the words of Biden himself, “The border wall money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to reappropriate it to redirect that money. They didn’t. They wouldn’t.” Congress did not allow the Biden administration the opportunity to spend the money elsewhere, and instead backed him into a corner.
Biden is now having a hard time quelling criticism of his immigration policies on both the right and within his own party, especially now that he’s coming up on a re-election year. It seems like authorizing construction of the wall was inevitable, considering Biden could (and probably would) get sued for overriding Congress’ ruling on the allotment of the spending of the money. Now, right around the corner of election season, is considered the most strategic time for the Biden administration to abide by Congress’ ruling because it could potentially appeal to conservatives but give time for liberals to forget before elections.
To this day, Biden remains firm that border walls are ineffective in stopping immigration, a finding backed by independent researchers who say using the funding for more border patrol agents would be equally or more effective in keeping undocumented immigrants out of the country. What the administration should really be doing is addressing the root causes of immigration, such as home-country political unrest or economic disarray, or increasing resources for processing asylum in the U.S. and abroad. However, Biden can’t do much without the support of Congress.
Despite his promises not to build a wall, Biden’s obligations to Congress overpowered his personal agenda. Even with this setback, Biden still promised to make immigration more humane and effective for immigrants. The administration has established a wide array of alternatives to detention for undocumented immigrants waiting for trial, something the Trump administration was infamous for neglecting. Biden also expanded the protections for undocumented people from countries to which it would be difficult to return, such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Ukraine.
Without Congress’ bipartisan support for necessary immigration system reforms (like helping to resettle immigrants who are seeking to fill needed parts of the U.S. economy), the Biden administration can’t do much more than it has done. It has done the absolute bare minimum to protect only some of the human rights of some of these immigrants. Ultimately, Congress holds the money and the power to change the system.
While Biden is no immigration hero, Congress is the real villain. It can’t find the correct majorities to pass reform that would benefit immigrants and the country, like an expedited and effective asylum process so that people are more able and incentivized to come to the U.S. legally. Biden’s executive orders only go so far without congressional support, and even Trump needed Congress to allocate the money for the wall, which is now solely attached to it.
If the past several years have shown us anything, it’s that the U.S. needs major migration reform and that the president cannot handle it alone. As of now, Congress has tied Biden’s hands, making it difficult for him to make any progress on “the comprehensive and humane immigration system” he promised. As the “land of the free,” the U.S. should make sure to always prioritize human rights, not only of the people in its own country, but on its borders, too.
