Biden spends more than $ 2 billion to stop building border wall amid migrant crisis



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It turns out that not building a wall costs almost as much as building one.

President Joe Biden spends at least $ 3 million a day on contractors “to watch steel rust in the desert,” Senate Republicans have found – as he tries to put an end to the planned wall. former President Trump along the US-Mexico border, despite the ongoing crisis there.

“President Biden pays professional construction contractors to keep the metal to the tune of $ 2 billion and counts, while at the same time we have seen high numbers of migrants cross our open border for 20 years,” said Senator James Lankford (R., Okla.)

A report released this week by GOP members of the Senate Subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management found that at least 20% of the $ 10 billion the Pentagon received for the construction of border walls has instead been spent to protect construction sides and terminate active contracts.

Republicans have lambasted President Joe Biden's border policies for sparking a wave of illegal immigrants arriving at the US-Mexico border.
Republicans have lambasted the policies of President Joe Biden for sparking a wave of illegal immigrants arriving at the US-Mexico border.
Olivier Contreras / UPI
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has pledged to build a state-funded border wall in response to the arrival of more undocumented immigrants.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has pledged to build a state-funded border wall in response to the arrival of more undocumented immigrants.
Getty Images

With the termination process expected to take up to 18 months, the report says, the costs will continue to accumulate.

“This waste of taxpayer resources threatens military readiness and national security,” the report concludes.

Republicans and others have blamed the absence of border barriers, as well as Biden’s lax admission policies, for an increase in illegal immigration in recent months.

A U.S. customs and border control officer patrols through a border wall covered with razor wire in Nogales, Ariz., March 2, 2019.
A U.S. customs and border control officer patrols through a border wall covered with razor wire in Nogales, Ariz., March 2, 2019.
AP Photo / Charlie Riedel, File
A section of the border wall is abandoned in Sunland Park, New Mexico, January 22, 2021.
A section of the border wall is abandoned in Sunland Park, New Mexico, January 22, 2021.
REUTERS / Paul Ratje / File

Trump built 453 miles of new and replacement wall during his tenure, with nearly 300 more miles planned or under construction.

The federal government counted nearly 190,000 people trying to illegally cross the southwest border into the United States in June, a 5% increase from May – putting U.S. customs and border protection on track to make its millionth border stop of the year this month.

It’s not since 2006 that this number of apprehensions has been reached in a calendar year – when the milestone was reached in December.

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