DHS Secretary approves border wall projects despite campaign promise

According to Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee, Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has recently authorized dozens of border wall projects. Rios, who spoke with NBC 7 San Diego, added that among those approved projects is a plan to build two new bollard-style, 30-foot high walls across the face of San Diego’s Friendship Park.

Friendship park is well known in the area as a space people used for decades to meet loved ones separated by the border. The assistant chief of the San Diego Border Patrol told NBC 7 the project does not include a pedestrian gate like the one that is there now. This would effectively end the long-standing tradition of reuniting families during designated visiting hours.

“It’s a border wall that is taller, that will not provide a feature for public access and will decimate the legacy of Friendship Park, ” Rios said. Rev. John Fanestil, a longtime Friendship Park advocate who spoke to KPBS, added “This latest announcement really amounts to the complete desecration of this historic location.”

NBC 7 reached out to Homeland Security, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. While spokesperson did not provide details about the new design, they did explain why the construction was necessary.

“The current primary barrier, which included a monument gate, was not properly treated to withstand the corrosion from the adjacent ocean before it was installed,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “It is no longer structurally sound and is falling apart, which presents risks to Border Patrol agents, community members, and migrants.”

The DHS border wall projects may come as a surprise to some considering a promise President Joe Biden made while on the campaign trail. According to NPR, Biden said in August of 2020 “There will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration.”

“It is disappointing to know under President Biden there is more border wall being constructed,” Rios said.