Wall not being built, but taxpayers still paying for it

FPI / March 23, 2021

Soon after the Jan. 20 inauguration, Joe Biden ordered a halt to all construction on the southern border wall.

Each day since then, American taxpayers have been billed for $6 million per day as the construction sites sit idle, a report said.

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official told Breitbart Texas that the expenditures are required since orders for construction materials were placed before Biden's order. It is also costing the government to have equipment sitting idle.

"When the issuance of a stop work order causes a contractor to idle equipment, they are entitled to be compensated for rental expenses or costs of ownership," the March 21 Breitbart report noted.

Even though Biden's order called for a 60-day pause in wall construction, it does not mean an automatic restart of construction, the report said.

"The Biden administration has not indicated which direction they will take regarding the end of the pause," the report noted. "Little information concerning the immigration crisis on the border has come from the leadership team within DHS and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Senior officials within DHS reported being instructed not to speak to national media on the issues facing DHS at the border. Information from other agencies within the new administration is equally elusive. USACE did not respond to a request for information concerning the end of the pause and the border wall contracts currently being evaluated."

In Eagle Pass, Texas, a $51.9-million fence contract "hangs in the balance," the report said. "The equipment gathers dust and the contractor still awaits a decision. Other problems appearing along the border may be taking precedent over the status of the border wall contracts."

Additional costs to taxpayers "are likely on the horizon if the administration does decide to close out the contracts permanently," the report said.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Biden has "turned a national triumph into a national disaster" at the border.

"We proudly handed the Biden administration the most secure border in history. All they had to do was keep this smooth-running system on autopilot. Instead, in the span of a just few weeks, the Biden administration has turned a national triumph into a national disaster. They are in way over their heads and taking on water fast," Trump said.

"The pathetic, clueless performance of Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas on the Sunday Shows today was a national disgrace. His self-satisfied presentation — in the middle of the massive crisis he helped engineer — is yet more proof he is incapable of leading DHS. Even someone of Mayorkas’ limited abilities should understand that if you provide Catch-and-Release to the world’s illegal aliens then the whole world will come," Trump said.

"Furthermore," Trump added, "the Mayorkas Gag Order on our Nation’s heroic border agents and ICE officers should be the subject of an immediate congressional investigation. But it’s clear they are engaged in a huge cover-up to hide just how bad things truly are. The only way to end the Biden Border Crisis is for them to admit their total failure and adopt the profoundly effective, proven Trump policies."

Trump concluded: "They must immediately complete the wall, which can be done in a matter of weeks — they should never have stopped it. They are causing death and human tragedy. In addition to the obvious, drugs are pouring into our country at record levels from the Southern Border, not to mention human and sex trafficking. This Administration’s reckless policies are enabling and encouraging crimes against humanity. Our Country is being destroyed!"

Free Press International