KOLD 13 News, Tucson
By Rafael Carranza Arizona Republic USA TODAY NETWORK
Border advocacy and conservation groups are eagerly looking to Jan. 20, the date that Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president.
Within hours, they are hoping Biden will reverse numerous immigration and border security policies, chief among them the construction of physical barriers along the U.S.Mexico border.
Few symbols are more emblematic of President Donald Trump’s administration than the construction of 400 miles of 30foot bollards along large portions of the southwestern U.S. border, with the expected completion of an additional 50 miles before the end of the year.
U.S. taxpayers, rather than Mexico as often promised by Trump, are footing the multibillion-dollar bill. Congress has so far allocated $4.4 billion for construction over the past four years, and the Trump administration has awarded an additional $7 billion worth of border wall contracts using diverted military funds.
Biden has pledged to stop construction after he takes office in January. He told a panel of Black and Latino reporters in August that “there will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration.”
