President Joe Biden said Thursday that he doesn’t believe border walls work, even as his administration said it will waive 26 laws to build additional border barriers in the Rio Grande Valley amid heightened political pressure over migration.
According to a notice posted to the Federal Register Wednesday, construction of the wall will be paid for using already appropriated funds earmarked specifically for physical border barriers. The administration was under a deadline to use them or lose them. But the move comes at a time when a new surge of migrants is straining federal and local resources and placing heavy political pressure on the Biden administration to address a sprawling crisis, and the notice cited “high illegal entry.”
Biden – who, as a candidate, vowed that there will “not be another foot” of border wall constructed on his watch – defended the decision to reporters Thursday, saying that he tried to get the money appropriated for other purposes but was unsuccessful.
“I’ll answer one question on the border wall: The border wall – the money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to reappropriate it, to redirect that money. They didn’t, they wouldn’t.
And in the meantime, there’s nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what it was appropriated. I can’t stop that,” Biden told reporters in the Oval Office.
Asked whether he believes the border wall works, Biden answered, “No.”
Illegal immigration’s main impact is monetary, so it costs the country money, but the reason why illegal immigration costs money is because people dodge systems when illegal.
It’s a deep irony that the easier you make immigration, the less it costs the country.
The reasonable solution to the costs of illegal immigration isn’t to reduce immigration but increase it. After all, immigrants benefit the economy more than natural born citizens do, as you don’t have to invest in giving birth, raising and educating them and they pay fees to live here, and they start paying tax from day 1 as opposed to having the first ~16-21 years tax free.
What are the requirements one must meet to legally immigrate to the US? Which of those requirements need to be modified to make it easier?
Having gone through the process myself, many steps are completely opaque. You create a huge bundle of papers, pay a large amount of money on an irregular schedule and wait a long time, and they are lots of rules about what you can and can’t do before, during and after.
I nearly got denied because I took a year long course of antidepressants that finished 6 years before my application when they read my medical history.
Awesome, congratulations in getting through the system, that is honestly a lot of things you mentioned.
More follow up questions if you have time:
how much money did you pay in total?
are there english language requirements?
are there American history tests one must pass?
how many years from start to finish did this process take?
was the paper work mostly submitted through the mail or was there a online system that could be used?
you mentioned rules about what you can/cannot do, what are some examples of ridiculous rules of things you cannot do before?
what would be the top three reasonable changes to the system that would make it easier for folks?
Thanks for the conversation!
the answer to all these questions is “it depends” - each that requires paragraphs of explanations depending on which of the several visas you apply for , which also have sub-sets of flavors of Visa
you’ve mistaken immigration for work authorization, and both with citizenship in some of these questions.
how much money? it was roughly $1000/month for several months but not all of this is payable to USCIS, and some is paid electronically and some by checks that don’t clear for months, so the logistical challenges there are manifold
English language requirements: generally no if you have a translator
examples of rules: traveling, Healthcare regarding new medications, having to attend dates and times of meetings in both countries, engaging with political organizations
the top change is to create a new Visa that allows “illegal” immigrants to become legal
Dang, not the expected response to be honest