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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Monday that it will use border wall funds to close some unfinished gaps in the wall that former President Trump started.
President Biden shut down all construction on the wall when he entered office on Jan. 20, leaving large sections of the wall incomplete and construction material sitting unused on the border.
Piles of unused border fence sit at one of the border wall construction staging areas on the Johnson Ranch near Columbus, New Mexico, on April 12, 2021. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The plan does not include the construction of additional miles of wall but would close "small gaps that remain open from prior construction activities and remediating incomplete gates."
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DHS said the move is part of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' plan to use border funds "to protect border communities from physical dangers resulting from the previous administration's approach to border wall construction."
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The department said that the border funds will also be used on drainage systems, to prevent erosion, to complete unfinished access roads, and to discard construction materials that are already at the border but will not be used for the "remediation" work.
The work will happen in the Tucson, Yuma and El Paso border sectors, which stretch from California to Texas. The department said it is also considering other potential work in all three states.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said in a statement Monday that the move is a "step in the right direction."
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, in 2017. (REUTERS/John Sommers II)
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"I'm pleased to see that they are finally taking some actions to secure our border – now is not the time to incentivize unlawful migration or the influx of deadly fentanyl by continuing their failed policies," Portman said. "I call on the Biden administration to install the technology Border Patrol needs to complete their mission, close all the gaps in the border wall, and to implement policies to curb the influx of unlawful migrants and illicit narcotics."
The DHS, meanwhile, said it "continues to call on Congress to cancel remaining border wall funding and instead fund smarter border security measures that are proven to be more effective at improving safety and security at the border."
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