A section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall in California.
Federal watchdogs have confirmed they are investigating President Biden‘s decision in January to freeze construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Former President Donald Trump (Trump) made building a border wall a key promise of his 2016 campaign and began construction of the wall amid a series of legal battles and battles with Congress. Congress had previously approved $1.4 billion in funding as part of a $900 billion bailout package. But Biden used his presidential executive powers to halt construction of the border wall on his first day in office. The Epidemic relief plan was designed to eliminate the damage caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, which began spreading in December of last year.
Politico first reported the news that the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) will now investigate whether the Biden Administration violated any laws by freezing construction of the border wall, a decision that may have violated a constitutional law that allows Congress to allocate funds separately.
A spokesman for the watchdog agency confirmed the report and told Wednesday (March 24), “Yes, we received a request from Congress for a legal opinion on this matter, and we have accepted that request.” But he did not disclose the exact nature of the investigation conducted by the Government Accountability Office.
Some senators noted in interviews with Politico magazine that Biden has been a senator for decades and should know the rules.
Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, told Politico News, “He’s been in Congress a long Time. He knows that it’s the job of Congress to authorize how the money is spent, and it’s the president’s job to spend that money effectively.”
Biden suspended Trump’s border wall construction efforts on his first day in office on Jan. 20, while also repealing several other Trump-era immigration rules. Biden described the border wall as wasteful spending.
In his presidential order, Biden said, “Like every nation, the United States has the right and obligation to defend its borders and protect its people from threats. But building a high wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution. It is a waste of money and diverts attention from the real threats to our homeland security.”
The president’s order further states that American taxpayer money should not be diverted to build a border wall, adding that the federal government will “carefully review all resources diverted or redirected to build a southern border wall.”
Meanwhile, more than six dozen Republican House members and four Republican senators sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office on Tuesday (March 22).
In a letter to the Government Accountability Office, the lawmakers said, “On March 17, 2021, 40 U.S. Senators signed a letter in which we are co-sponsors of a request for a legal opinion from the U.S. Government Accountability Office regarding the Biden Administration’s actions to suspend construction of the border wall and order a freeze on congressional funding for this purpose. We believe that this violates the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act (CBICA).”
Republicans have also been critical of Biden’s immigration orders since he took office, including the policy of naturalizing 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. Republicans say it is these Biden orders that have led to a surge in immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
But White House officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, have responded that it was Trump who left Biden with a broken immigration system that they are working to fix.
In a television interview on Sunday (March 21), Mayorkas said the border crisis “is the result of President Trump overturning the secure and orderly immigration process that presidents of both parties have built up over the years.”
But Trump said in a rare interview with Fox News this week that Biden is actively using his presidential decree to “destroy” America.
“You can’t take in millions of people, and millions more will come before this mess is over,” Trump said. “We want people to come in, but they have to be able to help our country. They have to own their strengths and they have to come in through legal means.”
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