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The Biden administration will resume construction of southern border wall levee, Fox News confirms, as the immigration crisis continues to spiral out of control.
The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will restart construction on a 13.4 mile stretch of levee in the Rio Grande Valley. The decision reportedly follows pressure from local residents and politicians to mend the incessant crossing surge.
Priority repairs are set to begin in six weeks to prevent flooding, followed by the establishment of a concrete levee wall fit with safety barriers in six to nine months. The USACE clarified that the wall will not be expanded on and will only repair the Rio Grande flood levee for the time being.
"Wall construction remains paused to extent permitted by law. Per DHS, we’ve started critical work to repair the Rio Grande Valley’s flood levee, which was excavated to make way for border wall. This remediation work will not involve expanding border barrier," USACE stated on Twitter.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) explained in a statement that repairs will "protect border communities from physical dangers" left in the wake of the construction. The statement claims that "large holes' were blown into the Rio Grande Valley's flood barrier system to make way for the wall which, as a result, requires repairing to prevent "catastrophic flooding."
One of President Biden’s first executive orders once taking office immediately halted all border wall construction, and since his January 20 inauguration, the migrant surge has worsened, as the number of illegal crossings continues to skyrocket and holding facilities have threatened public health in the midst of a pandemic.
According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), there were a total of 178,622 migrant encounters in April 2021, marking the highest monthly total in 20 years.
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Members of the Mexican military were spotted in Del Rio, Texas, for the first time on Wednesday, patrolling the opposite shoreline and detaining migrants with plans of crossing the Rio Grande.
Del Rio, Texas Mayor Bruno Lozano, a Democrat, sounded off on "Fox & Friends" Wednesday expressing concern for the worsening crisis and the administration's failure to control it.
"They keep telling us that the border is under control and I simply do not understand how with a 392% increase this fiscal year alone," he said. "Last year, we had 19,724 captures at this point. And right now we're at 97,398. I simply do not understand how that's under control."
