The Biden administration might resume construction of the wall along the southern border after President Joe Biden halted building the Trump administration project earlier this year.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told department employees last week that construction might ramp up again to fill the current “gaps” in the wall, according to a report.
Mayorkas said that though the president stopped Pentagon funds from going to the wall and ended former President Donald Trump’s border emergency designation, “that leaves room to make decisions” on finishing some “gaps in the wall.”
Customs and Border Protection reportedly also submitted a plan on the wall to administration officials.
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“It’s not a single answer to a single question. There are different projects that the chief of the Border Patrol has presented and the acting commissioner of CBP presented to me,” he said.
“The president has communicated quite clearly his decision that the emergency that triggered the devotion of DOD funds to the construction of the border wall is ended. But that leaves room to make decisions as the administration, as part of the administration, in particular areas of the wall that need renovation, particular projects that need to be finished,” he said.
Mayorkas also reportedly said during the same meeting that more illegal immigrants should be criminally prosecuted.
“I see cases now where we apprehend and remove individuals that I think need to be prosecuted criminally,” Mayorkas said.
“Quite frankly, I'm going to have to understand why some of these individuals are not subject to a Title 8 U.S.C. 1326 case, and I intend to work with the DOJ in that regard,” he added.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki was pressed on the issue of restarting border construction on Tuesday, saying, “There's some limited construction that has been funded and allocated for, but it is otherwise paused."
The report comes as a crisis has been escalating along the southern border, with Republicans especially outraged by Biden’s immigration policies.
"This is both a humanitarian crisis and a national security crisis," Sen. John Barrasso told Fox News's Maria Bartiromo on Sunday. "You may have seen the numbers today are the highest in history of unaccompanied minors currently in captivity. They are crammed in like sardines. And this is what the Biden administration is trying to hide from the American public."
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Barrasso was among the group of Republican senators who visited the border at the end of March, and he recalled how he and other lawmakers were told to delete photos they took of the facilities.
"We were told to delete the pictures. No one did," he said. "You've seen the video coming out of all of these kids crammed together under the foil blankets, huddling together."
