The Memo: Biden builds a wall and ignites a storm

One of the most striking political u-turns of the Biden administration is underway.

President Biden will, after all, build a section of border wall, it has emerged — despite having at one time pledged that “not another foot” would be constructed.

The dramatic news came in the undramatic shape of an announcement in the Federal Register on Thursday. The announcement noted that some laws and regulations would need to be waived “to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads in the vicinity of the international land border in Starr County, Texas.”

The issue has acquired enormous symbolic heft since former President Trump made “build the wall” one of his signature slogans during the 2016 campaign.

At the time, most Democrats recoiled in horror. 

Some of that reaction was rooted in Trump’s rhetoric — he infamously accused Mexico of sending “rapists” across the border in the speech that launched his first campaign — while some of the opposition emphasized the fanciful pledge that Mexico would pay for the wall’s construction.

Still, outright opposition to the wall, and the insistence that it would be ineffective, became a Democratic article of faith during those years.

It has to be jarring for many liberals, then, to read the statement by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in the Federal Register, asserting that there is “an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States.”

Trump wasted no time in gloating. 

“As I have stated often, over thousands of years, there are only two things that have consistently worked, wheels, and walls! Will Joe Biden apologize to me and America for taking so long to get moving, and allowing our country to be flooded with 15 million illegals [sic] immigrants, from places unknown,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial. “I will await his apology!”

The White House is arguing that the shift is not so radical as it is being portrayed. The president continues to contend, even amid the change, that a border wall is not an effective way to handle the migrant crisis.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated during Thursday’s press briefing that funding for the construction of the new stretch of wall dated back to a 2019 appropriations measure, under Trump.

The Department of Homeland Security, Jean-Pierre added, “is required by law to use the funds for [the] appropriated purpose. That’s what we’re seeing.”

Pressed on the issue further, Jean-Pierre told one reporter: “We believe that a border wall is not effective. You heard that from the president when your colleague…asked him directly. He said we don't believe it's effective.”

The issue of the appropriations is complicated, however. 

If that were the real core issue, for example, it would have seemed straightforward for the administration to have moved forward with wall construction already. Conversely, it’s not clear what sanction would be faced had the White House declined to use the funds in that way.

In any event, the bigger picture is one in which Biden is now seen to be moving under pressure to toughen his image on border security.

After a lull earlier this year when some new measures came into effect, encounters on the southern border have been rising sharply once again. 

The administration has come under pressure even from Democratic politicians to do more on the topic. The most prominent example is New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who recently claimed that the migrant crisis had the power to “destroy” his city.

Immigration is also one of Biden’s weakest issues, according to numerous opinion polls. 

A Washington Post-ABC News poll late last month, for example, showed a mere 23 percent of adults approving of the way he is handling the situation at the southern border. That rating was considerably lower than his overall approval rating of 37 percent.

Still, the apparent embrace of one of Trump’s most divisive policies — whatever the caveats attached — is drawing criticism from some prominent liberal voices.

Beto O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman who went on to lose high-profile bids to become senator and governor, described the move on Twitter as “impotent political posturing.”

O’Rourke also reiterated the long-standing Democratic talking point that “walls don’t work.”

Immigrant advocates had a similar reaction.

Roberto Lopez of the Beyond Borders program at the Texas Civil Rights Project, told NBC News, “President Obama built Bush’s wall and now Biden is building Trump’s.”

Among those who advocate for stricter border controls, however, there is some measure of vindication.

“It’s an admission on the part of the administration that the wall is effective. And if it is effective along those 20 miles, then it will be effective elsewhere,” Ira Mehlman, the media director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) told this column.

Mehlman, whose group has long argued that the nation’s immigration policies are too lax, added, “The administration has refused to even admit there is a crisis. This is only acknowledging the obvious — that something needs to be done.”

One question that will be answered in the days ahead is just how intense the liberal backlash will be.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) tweeted on Thursday evening that "the Biden administration continues to take pages from Trump's anti-immigrant playbook." But Menendez is poorly positioned for a stand on the moral high ground, given his recent indictment on bribery charges. He denies wrongdoing.

Otherwise, reaction has been comparatively muted from elected Democrats.

It’s possible that will change. 

But it’s also possible that rationalizations will be offered to defend Biden’s shift — something which, in itself, opens up the charge of double standards.

“It’s the perfect story for how the liberals, the Democrats, flip-flop depending on what the story is and who the story is about,” said Tobe Berkovitz, a Boston University professor emeritus who specializes in political communications. “it’s just another perfect example of hypocrisy.”

Hypocrisy or not, the decision is going forward. 

Whether it will help Biden toughen his image or simply expose him to the charge of political expediency remains to be seen.

The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.