Rep. Ilhan Omar lashed out at President Joe Biden on Wednesday for reportedly considering plugging “gaps” in the border wall.
The tweet: Omar, a Minnesota Democrat and an opponent of immigration enforcement, told Biden on Twitter: “It’s shameful and unacceptable for [you] to continue the construction of Trump’s xenophobic and racist wall.”
The context: The Washington Times reported on Monday that the Biden administration may complete parts of the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border amid a migrant crisis there.
- The Department of Homeland Security has not commented on the report, which is based on leaked internal documents.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed to reporters on Tuesday that some work on the wall in ongoing despite an overall pause in building.
- “There is some limited construction that has been funded and allocated for, but it is otherwise paused,” Psaki said.
Biden signed an executive order during his first week in office that halted construction of the wall as part of a larger rollback of Trump’s hardline immigration policies.
- As a candidate, Biden pledged there “will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration.”
However, an overwhelming surge in migrants at the border has put political pressure on Biden from both the left and the right.
- Republican leaders, including Trump, have bashed Biden for what they say is an unnecessary immigration disaster of his making.
- Omar and 23 other progressives urged the president in a letter last month to bar Immigration and Customs Enforcement from detaining migrants in local jails, which account for half of immigration detention facilities.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration faces an investigation from the Government Accountability Office for possible legal violations in halting funding to the wall.
