President Joe Biden became the 46th United States president on January 20, 2021; and within hours he signed an executive order halting border wall construction in the USA.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump vigorously took steps to build a long and tall border wall that cost billions of dollars, citing it would help stop illegal immigration into the United States. But President Biden says the border wall is a waste of money and that building a massive wall that spans the entire southern U.S. border is not a serious policy solution.
Through the executive order that President Biden signed on January 20th, a pause in border wall construction was initiated immediately. President Biden ordered The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to pause work on each construction project on the southern border wall, to the extent permitted by law.
The Biden administration is committed to ensuring that the United States has a comprehensive and humane immigration system that operates consistently with United States values.
President Biden’s strategy is centered on the basic premise that America is safer, stronger, and more prosperous with a fair and orderly immigration system that welcomes immigrants, keeps families together, and allows people across the country—both newly arrived immigrants and people who have lived here for generations—to more fully contribute to the United States, the White House says.
