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Joe Biden now wants to RESTART building Trump's border wall to plug 'gaps' amid migrant surge: Report

The administration's plans include filling 'gaps', installing 'gates' and adding technology to areas 'where the wall has been completed but the technology has not been implemented'

BY POOJA SALVI

UPDATED APR 7, 2021

Latest news reports suggest that President Joe Biden might have plans for continuing construction on the Mexico border wall (Getty Images)

As President Joe Biden's administration continues to struggle with the increasingly difficult immigration crisis, the latest reports suggest that he might just continue the construction of Donald Trump's Mexico border wall again. This news also happens to come at a time when the latest research reveals that only about 44% of Americans approve of the job that the President has been doing on border security while 55% say they disapprove.

After being blamed for the record surge of immigrants crossing into the US illegally, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reportedly told his department employees that Biden planned to plug "gaps" in the current wall.

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Undocumented immigrants walk along the U.S.-Mexico border wall after they ran across the shallow Rio Grande into El Paso on March 17, 2021 in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. U.S. immigration officials are dealing with an immigrant surge along the southwest border with Mexico. (Getty Images)

According to The Washington Times, who reviewed notes from a recent discussion between Mayorkas and employees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Mayorkas reportedly said, "It's not a single answer to a single question. There are different projects that the chief of the Border Patrol has presented and the acting commissioner of CBP presented to me."

President's plans

"The president has communicated quite clearly his decision that the emergency that triggered the devotion of DOD funds to the construction of the border wall is ended. But that leaves room to make decisions as the administration, as part of the administration, in particular areas of the wall that need renovation, particular projects that need to be finished."

The administration's plans include filling "gaps," installing "gates" and adding technology to areas "where the wall has been completed but the technology has not been implemented."

Construction of the U.S. border wall is halted after a car rolled down an embankment and landed against the wall on the Mexican side of the border on January 28, 2019 in Tijuana, Mexico. (Getty Images)

So far, Biden has reportedly opposed completing the wall — an extremely difficult endeavor as much of the border terrain is rugged, hilly terrain and other areas are controlled by private landowners. At the same time, reports reveal that Biden has not always been opposed to building boundaries at the border. As a senator, he voted to approve 700 miles of border fencing, and while the 100 miles of that fence was under construction, he was serving as vice president under Barack Obama.

Declining ratings

According to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll which was released on Monday, Biden stands at 42% approval and 56% disapproval on the related issue of immigration. 44% of Americans approve of the job he has been doing on border security, with 55% saying they disapprove. At the same time, Biden's overall approval rating stands at 61% in the new national poll, with 38% disapproving of his work as president.

40% disapprove of Biden’s handling of the situation of unaccompanied children at the border and only 24% approve. https://t.co/3vlujxMVPe pic.twitter.com/MpTPwP38MO
— AP-NORC Center (@APNORC) April 5, 2021

This comes just days after disturbing footage from the US-Mexico border showed two small girls being dumped by smugglers over a 14ft fence, before being left to fend for themselves in the middle of the desert at night.

Smugglers, under cover of night, scaled a 14 ft. border barrier and cruelly dropped 2 young children in the middle of the New Mexico desert. The girls, ages 3 & 5, were left miles from the nearest residence. Thank you STN Agents for rescuing these children! @CBP @CBPWestTexas pic.twitter.com/U91y2g8Lk1
— Gloria I. Chavez (@USBPChiefEPT) March 31, 2021

The blame game

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (Getty Images)

Ever since the crisis, Biden has been on the receiving end of a lot of flak and criticism. During his appearance on 'Fox & Friends', Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said, "This is a Biden-caused disaster and because he rejected the policies that President Trump had put in that were working, you now have this serious situation at the border. Absolutely it makes our country more vulnerable to that type of infiltration [like the two terrorists arrested] but it's more than just that: they basically stopped enforcing immigration law. So in Florida, we had agreements with ICE that if someone was a convicted criminal here illegally, ICE would pick 'em up when they were done with their prison sentence and return them to their home country."