PHOENIX — Once he becomes President, Joe Biden says he will work quickly to undo many of President Trump’s contentious policies. That may include undoing actions Trump took in an attempt to secure the border and free up money to build his wall.
Nearly a year ago, contractors stormed though a sacred Tohono O’Odham Nation burial site, located in the Organ Pipe National Monument near Lukeville and built a border wall with little regard for the environment, the culture, or the Tohono O’dham people.
“You got to turn the page beyond the Trump policies. Discredit it for what it is,” said Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva (D) AZ 3rd District.
Inspired by candidate Joe Biden’s response to a question if he would continue building a wall along the U.S. southern border with Mexico, Congressman Grijalva called on President Biden to not only stop funding the border wall, but wherever possible, to take it down.
“There is an urgency, immediacy in evaluating the damage and as such to repair the damage, mitigate the damage remove the damage. Some of it has to go,” Grijalva said.
There is still 286 miles of border wall budgeted at a cost of $13 billion. President Biden can stop the construction of the wall almost immediately.
He can rescind President Trump’s 2019 emergency declaration. Trump’s declaration diverted tens of millions of dollars from the U.S. military to pay for the wall. Construction projects at Luke AFB and Davis Monthan AFB were delayed as a result.
“I don't think the solution should have been an 18th-century solution for a 21st-century problem. Meaning a 2,000-mile war across the entire southern border,” said Arizona U.S. Senator Mark Kelly.
In an interview with KECY-TV reporter Cody Lee, Kelly said the Arizona border can use some help at the ports of entries in Douglas and Yuma. Kelly visited the Douglas area last week.
“Yuma County has some really unique needs,” Kelly said. “A lot of agriculture workers coming from Mexico come across that border every single day. It needs to be more efficient, folks have to wait four or five hours each morning to cross into Arizona.” Kelly believes the Biden administration will help with improvements.
President Biden says one of his first priorities will be reversing President Trump’s immigration policy which separated children from their parents. There are approximately 600 children who still need to be reunited with their families.
Senator Kelly says he knows President Biden is committed to reunification, but he wonders, “How do we do that? My understanding is it’s not going to be easy.”
