Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) urged President Joe Biden to reverse his administration's plan to build several miles of border wall, saying the White House is wrong that it is obligated to construct the barriers.
"The Biden administration was not required to expand construction of the border wall—and they certainly were not required to waive several environmental laws to expedite the building," Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement posted to X. "The President needs to take responsibility for this decision and reverse course."
The Biden administration on Wednesday announced it will begin construction on a section of border wall, waiving 26 federal laws to build it in Starr County, Texas.
The socialist Democrat added in her statement that a "wall does nothing to deter people."
Biden has sought to distance himself from the construction, claiming he is being forced to do it by law and that he doesn't think it will work.
"The money was appropriated for the border wall," Biden told reporters this week. "I tried to get them to reappropriate it, to redirect that money. They didn’t, they wouldn’t."
Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a notice on Wednesday that there is an "acute and immediate need" for the wall, though he later said the comment is "being taken out of context."
"The Secretary of Homeland Security has determined, pursuant to law, that it is necessary to waive certain laws, regulations, and other legal requirements in order to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads in the vicinity of the international land border in Starr County, Texas," a summary in Mayorkas's DHS notice reads, adding that the border wall will be constructed at "high illegal entry" points.
Former president Donald Trump said Biden's construction of the barriers does nothing to address the illegal immigrants and "terrorists" already in the country.
Conservatives are slamming the proposal as too little too late and an attempt to distract from the historic immigration crisis.
Failed Democratic candidate Beto O'Rourke criticized the border wall construction as "impotent political posturing." Rep. Maxwell Frost (D., Fla.) said the White House should have stopped the funding from going to the wall.