Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated on Wednesday that the United States has a “urgent and pressing need” to construct a border wall in southern Texas, and he issued an order suspending some of the nation’s most renowned environmental protection laws in order to expedite construction.
Mr. Mayorkas identified scores of miles of border along which he intends to construct barriers and roads and where he indicated that environmental regulations would be an impediment.
“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 Immigrant Responsibility Act provides the homeland security secretary the power to waive laws when necessary to facilitate border construction.
The Associated Press reported that the Biden administration is waiving 26 federal laws to