Nine members of Congress represent districts that run along the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, and those lawmakers fall on different sides of President Biden’s recent decision to halt all border wall construction.
No district was untouched by the Trump administration’s wall projects. Although Congress backed one-third of the total cost, the remaining two-thirds was diverted from the Treasury and Pentagon, angering Democrats.
The Washington Examiner reached out to all nine lawmakers to see how they feel about Biden’s decision to stop one of former President Donald Trump’s biggest undertakings.
Rep. Filemon Vela
Democrat, Texas 34th
Vela’s district starts at the Gulf of Mexico and runs about 70 land miles west, past the cities of Brownsville and Harlingen. The Rio Grande acts as a natural border between both countries, but the region sees the most arrests related to illegal immigration than any other nationwide.
Wall progress in southeastern Texas has been slower than in other regions, with a dozen miles completed and 100 miles set to go up in his and neighboring districts, adding to the 55 miles of barrier there before Trump took office. Border Patrol agents in the valley are responsible for 277 miles of largely overgrown brush that runs along the international boundary river. Southeastern Texas is the only place where the wall doubles as a levee system.
“To build the existing wall, hundreds of private landowners and municipalities had their property condemned and lawsuits are still dragging through federal courts,” Vela wrote in an email. “The placement of the existing wall also forced U.S. citizens to live in a ‘no-man’s land,’ between border barriers and the actual border. The border wall has not improved our national security or stopped the smuggling of drugs and human beings across our borders, which are covertly transported directly though our ports of entry.”
Vela said that Biden’s stopping of the wall was a “welcomed” move but that local officials needed to ensure work on the ground “actually stops, and existing contracts are cancelled.”
“For too long, the false narrative of a violent and insecure border region has been used to justify legislation that has negative economic and civil rights impacts on our border communities,” Vela said. “Walls along the southern border separate and intimidate communities, encroach on landowner rights, harm wildlife, and serve as an un-American symbol of hatred toward immigrants who contribute so much to our country.”
Rep. Vicente Gonzalez
Democrat, Texas 15th
Gonzalez’s district only includes a few miles of the border, but they are in the same Border Patrol region that sees the highest rates of arrests for illegal immigration. It also includes the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge, a major hub for traffic connecting to the large Mexican border city of Reynosa.
His district has seen wall go up near the ports of entry, but he applauded Biden’s decision to end the “fake national emergency” at the border in which Trump sought to divert money from the Treasury and Pentagon to border wall projects.
“I welcome President Biden’s pause on all wall construction projects to allow for a close review of the legality of the funding, contracting methods used and to determine the best way to redirect funds that were diverted by the prior Administration to fund wall construction,” Gonzalez said in a statement.
Rep. Henry Cuellar
Democrat, Texas 28th
“Just yesterday, I got a video of about 150 people walking on the Mexican side — all in a row — going to the Rio Grande so they can cross. Yesterday, I was talking to Border Patrol and they got about 100-plus unaccompanied kids,” Cuellar said during a phone call. “They’re starting to come up. And this is why I’ve cautioned the Biden administration — I’m waiting for the new secretary to come in [and] to say, ‘Hey guys, let’s be very cautious. I mean, the wall, take it down or don’t do it, but we got to have technology, personnel, and certain policies in place because otherwise the bad guys are staging to get people across.'”
Cuellar’s district stretches 200 miles along the border from McAllen well past Laredo. The border there was largely unfenced four years ago as a result, Cuellar said, of his efforts to work with the George W. Bush administration to keep physical barriers out of his backyard. A billion-dollars-worth of projects was planned for his region, and 63 miles are under construction, but just a handful of miles have been completed due to delays in getting started, as well as Cuellar’s opposition.
“My Republican friends always say, ‘Hey, well, the men and women on the ground, they want the wall for stopping people.’ And I always say, ‘Was it pre-2012 or post-2012? Because the Border Patrol pre-2012 called the wall ineffective — a waste of taxpayer dollars,” said Cuellar. “They changed their position.”
Cuellar “doesn’t believe in open borders” and wants to see “law and order,” but he wants to see that done further south of the border.
“We play defense on the one-yard line called the U.S. border, and we don’t do enough to play defense on [Mexico’s] 20-yard line, which is making sure Mexico does its part in stopping people coming in,” Cuellar said.
Cuellar noted that the majority of drugs seized at the border are found at ports of entry and that more people become illegal immigrants in the U.S. as a result of overstaying a visa than by sneaking over the border.
Rep. Ernest “Tony” Gonzales
Republican, Texas 23rd
Gonzales, a freshman who replaced Republican Will Hurd, has the largest span of U.S.-Mexico border of the nine districts that run along it. His district stretches from southeast of Eagle Pass through Big Bend National Park, past Marfa, and almost to El Paso, which sits on the New Mexico border. Despite having more than 820 miles of the 1,950-mile boundary, a very low share of his border-front miles have any type of barrier because the region is extremely remote. He spoke to how the land in itself is a barrier.
“A physical wall is the appropriate response to border security in the right areas,” Gonzales said. “We also need additional sources of security and support at the border wall to augment an actual barrier. This includes advanced technology, a substantial number of men and women on the ground and involvement of nonprofits to aid with humanitarian relief.”
He said he was not happy about Biden’s decision to suddenly halt construction because the new administration did not consult with him or local officials.
“Ramming through policies without consulting the representatives from the area is an unsustainable way to govern, especially when it comes to things like border security, where families and communities are directly impacted by every decision,” Gonzales said. “Any decision made about border security or immigration will impact my constituents and our communities. It’s incredibly important that my constituents feel their voices are being heard and valued.”
Rep. Veronica Escobar
Democrat, Texas 16th
Escobar’s district encompasses El Paso and not a significant portion of the border compared to other lawmakers. Her region, as well as the districts to the west and east, have had 110 miles of wall installed in never-before-fenced areas, as well as in place of shorter, outdated fences.
An 18-foot mesh fence built during the Obama years in Sunland Park, New Mexico, is slated to be replaced. It is located in one of the busiest areas for illegal migration aside from South Texas. Mexican highways run close to remote sections of the border, making it a prime spot to drop off migrants. Although the mesh fence is fairly tall, it is easily cut by smugglers almost every night, which is why it will be replaced.
Escobar declined to comment for this story. In a statement issued earlier this month, the congresswoman criticized Trump as he traveled to Texas to see the wall in the aftermath of an insurrection that his supporters waged at the U.S. Capitol.
“Like a criminal who returns to the scene of a crime, he simply cannot help but gloat about stealing military funding to build an ineffective wall; separating thousands of children, traumatizing an entire generation of families; and violating U.S. and international practices and laws intended to protect vulnerable migrants,” Escobar said in the statement. “His abhorrent policies only served to make America less safe.”
Rep. Yvette Herrell
Republican, New Mexico 2nd
Herrell is new to Congress and beat Democratic Rep. Xochitl Torres Small. Her district encompasses the bottom half of New Mexico, including 180 miles of the border. One hundred miles of wall has gone up in New Mexico. She said Trump’s push for the more than 450 miles of wall completed since 2017 is “vital to stopping drug smugglers, criminals, human traffickers, and illegal immigrants.”
“President Biden has ended this construction, violating contracts with builders, and leaving our communities vulnerable to illegal crossings,” said Herrell. “Not only will this cost American taxpayers billions of dollars in settlement fees, it will also harm the construction industry along the border and cost thousands of construction workers to lose their jobs.”
She called the wall as “another tool” in Border Patrol’s tool kit and said ranchers who live and work near the border know its value.
“Ranchers speak to me about being held up at gun point, cattle being stolen, and their livelihoods destroyed,” said Herrell. “Ending the wall hurts real people and benefits those that seek to smuggle into our country.”
Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick
Democrat, Arizona 2nd
Kirkpatrick represents Arizonians southeast of Tucson across Cochise, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties.
Despite the installation of more than 110 miles of border wall, including fencing that is duplicate, that has gone up in the Tucson region under Trump, Kirkpatrick said the wall has “not proved to be an effective security or infrastructure project” and that “physical barriers aren’t the cornerstones to secure borders.”
“What we really need are reformed immigration policies that are humane and efficient,” Kirkpatrick wrote in an email. “The wall construction itself has irreparably damaged hundreds of acres of borderlands and permanently devastated wildlife habitats. It has also dammed Arizona’s only free-flowing river left, the San Pedro in Cochise County. On top of the environmental harm, the wall construction has also cost taxpayers exorbitant amounts of money.”
Kirkpatrick said that “most” of her constituents opposed the wall, and “many” are glad that Biden halted the $15.5 billion project. It is time for the White House and Congress to determine what steps are next, she said.
“My goal with the Biden Administration is to institute positive and bold environmental policies that can offer some degree of healing for our borderlands,” said Kirkpatrick. “There is undoubtedly damage that cannot be reversed, but with an eye to the future, we can prevent more atrocities from happening again.”
Rep. Raul Grijalva
Democrat, Arizona 3rd
Grijalva’s district spans about 300 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, where much of the wall construction has been on public lands, including the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.
“From the desecration of sacred Native American sites to rampant environmental destruction, Trump’s border wall caused immeasurable harm to the borderlands,” said Grijalva. “I applaud the Biden Administration’s pause on wall construction and end of the national emergency, but we must do more and ensure that not another foot of wall is constructed under his watch.”
He encouraged the new administration to hear from a variety of people on the border, including tribes, environmentalists, and wildlife advocates.
Grijalva said the government should cancel contracts and environmental waivers issued under the Trump administration and then prioritize enhancing security at ports of entry.
“The best thing we can do to manage our border is to invest funds in modernization efforts for our ports of entry,” said Grijalva. “This includes equipping them with technology they need to detect illegal drugs while staffing them with more asylum officers to process cases quickly and efficiently and customs officers to facilitate trade. This is the solution that addresses our current needs.”
Rep. Juan Vargas
Democrat, California 51st
Only one district in California is located on the international border, and it spans the entire 140 miles. Vargas has fought the border wall from the beginning of Trump’s first term. In an effort by the government to determine which type of structure would be best to install on the border, six companies put up eight wall prototypes at a site in his district. They were torn down in 2019 as construction up and down the entire border began, which Vargas described as a $5 million waste “that had no other purpose than militaristic political theater.”
“Instead of funding solutions to address our real border issues, millions of dollars are sitting in a pile of rubble in San Diego,” Vargas said at the time. “Our border communities do not want or need a wall. We need the cross-border flooding and sewage issues in the Tijuana River Valley to be prioritized and addressed.”
A double-layer border wall was among the first projects to be completed on the border. It stretches from the Pacific Ocean nearly 15 miles up into the mountains past Otay Mesa, California. The wall continues across most of the state to portions completed before Trump’s administration in Eastern California.
