On Thursday, the Biden administration ordered for the Yuma Morelos Dam Project in Arizona to be completed, which would “close four gaps” along the porous southern border sector.
According to the Associated Press, this effort was backed by former President Donald Trump’s administration, essentially vindicating conservatives who backed tougher security in the region.
The Department of Homeland Security said that the effort will mitigate the risks for migrants, as “the area presents safety and life hazard risks,” according to a statement.
Of course, nobody should expect the administration to brag about this, as they hated the concept of a border wall. On day one of the Biden White House, they ordered a “pause” of border wall construction and scrapped other Trump-era immigration policies. These swift actions arguably fueled the ongoing border crisis, and the decision to fill these gaps in Yuma comes too late. Materials had been left sitting at the border, when they could’ve instead continued to be used to prevent the humanitarian disaster plaguing border communities.
In the fiscal year 2022, which ends in September, there have been 235,230 migrant encounters, according to Customs and Border Protection data. This is the third highest sector, as it is trailing only behind the Rio Grande Valley and Del Rio sectors in Texas.
As Yuma’s KYMA reported on Wednesday, the influx of migrants at the border puts an unbelievable strain on local authorities, as they have to fulfill the roles that the federal government cannot.
Arizona and Texas have taken nearly every action to get a handle on the border crisis, including the controversial decision to bus migrants to East Coast cities such as Washington, D.C.
Democrat Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser even ordered the National Guard to assist with the flow of people, to which Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R-Ariz.) did not hesitate to make it clear that these cities are getting nothing compared to their small towns, RedState’s Nick Arama reported.
“Washington D.C. finally understands what Texans have been dealing with every single day, as our communities are overrun by thousands of illegal immigrants,” Abbott said, according to Fox News.
Ducey pointed out the statistics behind the crisis in his rebuke of Bowser.
“Mayor Bowser is lamenting 4,000 migrants — Arizona had 43,570 border encounters in June alone,” he tweeted.
Sorry, but the administration does not deserve credit for doing the bare minimum at the border. Their neglect is a gross disservice to Customs and Border Patrol agents, local authorities, and the good people of the American Southwest.