Border wall foes hail order halting project, but say it’s only first step

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden made good on a campaign promise within hours of his swearing-in this week, ordering a pause in construction of the border wall and a plan for how to redirect wall funding.

Opponents of the wall called the executive order “a huge win.” But they also said it is not the end of the fight, noting that Biden’s order allows a week for construction to actually come to a halt and directs agencies to evaluate contractual and legal obligations for the wall.

“For the short-term, foreseeable amount of time, we’re just going to be in a status quo,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director for the Center for Biological Diversity. “They won’t build anymore, they won’t necessarily take any down, and they’ll look at the problem seriously.”

Tricia Cortez, founding member of the #NoBorderWall coalition, called Biden’s move “a significant first step, but we also know that there is more work to be done.”

Biden’s proclamation Wednesday also terminated the state of emergency at the border that had been declared by former President Donald Trump and used as a justification to redirect billions of dollars to the wall and bypass environmental and other regulations in its construction. Critics said that allowed the Trump administration to damage endangered critical habitats and desecrate sacred Native American sites.

“It shall be the policy of my Administration that no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall,” Biden said in the order, which called the state of emergency “unwarranted.”