Democrat West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin called for a state of emergency at the southern border after the Biden administration resumed construction on the border wall.
Manchin said a state of emergency is needed at the southern border on Thursday after President Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it would resume construction on the border wall started by former President Donald Trump.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the move late Wednesday as the House’s speaker fight takes center stage in the media, saying there is an “acute and immediate need” for the wall.
“Far-left Democrats in Washington have to come to grips with the fact that we have to shut down the border,” Manchin told Fox News Digital. “Similar to President Trump, the Biden administration should call a national emergency on the border because this crisis is impacting every corner of our country.”
“We must work together to create an immigration policy that gives people the chance to come here legally as well as strengthens our border security with additional Border Patrol agents, new technology and a border wall,” Manchin continued.
In a Thursday “Morning Joe” interview, Manchin said there needs to be a wall along areas of the southern border that are being hit hard by the droves of illegal immigrants surging into America.
Noting that Mayorkas is “good people” who he works with, the West Virginia senator said the Biden administration needs to declare a state of emergency at the southern border “and shut it down tight.”
“The administration, the president has to say, ‘Enough is enough.’ And what Trump did, he basically declared a state of emergency,” Manchin said.
“You have to build the wall. There’s areas we need the wall, and there’s areas where we need technology,” the senator continued.
The wall’s construction is a broken promise for Biden, who railed against Trump’s signature issue during the 2020 campaign and halted construction after taking the presidency.
Mayorkas is citing an “acute and immediate need” to waive dozens of federal laws to build a border wall in south Texas where illegal migration has surged.
The agency posted an announcement on the U.S. Federal Register that outlines construction in Starr County in the Rio Grande Valley Sector, where the administration says there is “high illegal entry.” The agency says there have been over 245,000 migrant encounters in the sector this fiscal year.
Mayorkas says he is using his authority provided by Congress to waive 26 federal laws, including the Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and Endangered Species Act.
“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 pursuant to sections 102(a) and 102(b) of [the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996],” Mayorkas said.
The administration had put a halt to new border wall construction in early 2021, after Biden had promised as a presidential candidate that there would “not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration.” The administration said wall construction under the Trump administration was “just one example of the prior administration’s misplaced priorities and failure to manage migration in a safe, orderly and humane way.”
However, the construction is funded by the fiscal year 2019 DHS appropriations bill, which specifically funded wall projects in the RGV Sector and which DHS is required to use for its appropriated purpose.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced plans for up to 20 miles of wall in the RGV Sector in June. The administration previously made moves to close gaps and replace gates and says such projects prioritize the completion of activities and projects to address life, safety and operational risks – including the safety of individuals, Border Patrol agents and migrants.
Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw contributed reporting.
