DHS to close gaps, address safety, environmental concerns from border wall construction

The Biden administration is seeking to close gaps in former President Trump’s border wall and remedy environmental damage from its construction, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Monday.

In a statement, the department said it would be “closing small gaps that remain open from prior construction activities” as a safety measure while also taking steps to address flooding and soil erosion. 

DHS will also dispose of residual construction materials left at sites after border wall construction was halted by President Biden.

Biden terminated the emergency that allowed for the construction of the wall on his first day in office and in June announced he would restore Pentagon funding that had been diverted to the wall, funding 66 new military projects.

But the administration has continued to face lawsuits from environmental groups over damage from the walls they argue needs to be remedied. 

The Supreme Court in October remanded a case from the American Civil Liberties Union, teeing up another stage of the battle to address the border wall’s damage, something groups argue range from disrupting wildlife corridors to addressing damage from its construction. That includes segments where builders plowed through federal lands, even bulldozing protected Arizona saguaro cacti. 

The Trump administration ultimately built some 450 miles of barriers, though some replaced existing barricades.

While some of the plans announced Monday will help complete portions of the wall, in a statement DHS said doing so would “address safety concerns by closing construction access gaps that were left open at the time of the border barrier construction pause, and will also include adding missing gates, addressing incomplete foundations, and connecting power to gates that are already hung but are currently inoperable.”