‘Too Little, Too Late’: Biden Faces Intense Backlash for Border Wall Announcement

During the Trump administration, President Joe Biden made it clear he saw the border wall as a “waste of money” and “not a serious policy solution.” Despite the ongoing crisis at the southern border, it was a prominent part of Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign that “not … another foot of wall” would be built. Almost immediately after Biden was sworn in, he signed an executive order to stop construction of the wall. But on Thursday, the Biden administration suddenly changed its tune, announcing the “immediate need” to add 20 or more miles to the border wall.

The about-face triggered intense backlash for Biden and his administration. The GOP see the decision as “politically convenient,” “too late,” and hypocritical. Among the many posts on X, Republicans say Biden’s acknowledgement that “walls actually work,” as the GOP put it, is “too little, too late.”

 “President Joe Biden says he’s been forced to violate a campaign promise by adding some new construction to Donald Trump’s border wall,” CNN reported. In a press conference, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tried to push back, noting that the Biden administration “was legally obligated to continue construction.” Reporters noted how Jean-Pierre “refused to get into hypotheticals,” and would only answer the reporters’ questions vaguely.

“This is indefensible,” Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) fumed on Wednesday’s edition of “Washington Watch.” “[T]he people who are suffering … [and] dying, the crimes … being committed, the children … being brutalized, the women … being sexually assaulted, the Americans … dying of drug overdoses. It is a travesty at a level never seen on our border until Joe Biden and these radical Democrats came into office.”

 “Look,” Cruz insisted, “however bad you think our border crisis is, unless you’ve seen it firsthand, I promise you it is worse than you think it is. … It is a constant invasion.”

Congressman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) Perkins agreed on Thursday’s show, noting how the Biden administration had “sold off more than $300 million of materials for the wall for just $2 million.” He added, “I mean, … [it] makes absolutely no sense what this administration is doing.”

Sessions said, “I believe that it comes from an abject failure.” He continued, “[I]t goes back to … [their] original plan … of completely turning this country into a one-party system.” He explained how what’s really happening is the destabilizing of states and cities that now allow illegal immigrants to flourish. “[T]his is the typical thing that Democrats are good at,” he said.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins highlighted how the issues likely to be prominent in the 2024 election are crime, border, and economy. “And frankly,” Perkins added, “The administration and the Democratic Party have very little to stand on when it comes to those three issues.

Sessions concluded, “Well, the American people have heard the story. They understand it. …. They’re looking for [the Republican] party … to stand on solid ground and say, ‘We are not going to fund the government if they do not fix these problems.’ … They’re starting to do this.”