Joe Biden cancels 'unwarranted' funding for Donald Trump's US-Mexico border wall

Over $A32 billion has already been spent on the border wall.

Birds fly over a section of the recently renovated US-Mexico border wall, in Calexico, California, USA.

Birds fly over a section of the recently renovated US-Mexico border wall, in Calexico, California, USA. Source: EPA

US President Joe Biden has cancelled funding for the US-Mexico border wall, one of the key immigration policies of former president Donald Trump. 

Mr Trump declared a national emergency over the southern border in 2019 to divert military funding to the wall. 

When he left office in January, over $A32 billion had already been spent on the border wall. 

Mr Biden on Thursday wrote to congress saying that the emergency was "unwarranted" and stated that no further US taxpayer money would be spent on the wall.
"Build the wall" was a key catch-cry of Mr Trump's successful 2016 presidential campaign, when he initially promised that the Mexican government would pay for the construction of the wall. 

Border wall funding was eventually redirected from military funding after congress failed to approve the spending requested by Mr Trump. 

Various types of fencing and walls totalling over 1,000 km were already in place before Mr Trump became president.
During his time in office, over 600 kilometres of wall was built to replace existing fencing, and almost 130 kilometres of new barriers were built where there were none before. 

The move by Mr Biden comes amidst a flurry of executive actions to undo many of Mr Trump's immigration policies. 

Earlier this month Mr Biden moved to reunite families separated at the border during the Trump administration. 

Mr Biden also quickly moved to remove Mr Trump's so-called 'Muslim ban' on immigration from certain Muslim-majority countries. 




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Published 12 February 2021 10:52am
Updated 12 February 2021 11:03am
By Jarni Blakkarly


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