Biden’s desire to stop the borderwall could be costly and arduous

USA Presidentelect Joe Biden pledged to end construction of his predecessor’s signature border wall, but halting the ongoing, multibillion-dollar project will be an arduous, complex and potentially costly process.

His administration will be saddled with lawsuits over wall funding, face questions about maintenance of the barriers built over the last four years and have to contend with private land that had been siphoned for future construction. Around 415 miles of wall construction have been completed, roughly 353 of which is replacing old, dilapidated walls or barriers, as of November 27, according to US Customs and Border

Protection. The administration is quickly pressing forward with its stated goal to build 450 miles by the end of this year, with contractors working around the clock.

Biden’s promise to halt construction has already prompted discussions among Customs and Border Protection officials about what would occur in that event, particularly if funding is cut, according to a Homeland Security official. The border wall will stand to be one of President Donald Trump’s lasting legacies. The President took unprecedented measures to construct additional barriers on the southwest border, declaring a national emergency to take money from the Defense Department to pay for the wall, defying Congress. His administration also waived numerous environmental and contracting laws to speed up construction, as well as filed dozens of lawsuits in rapid succession to seize private land on the border. “Presidentelect Biden will end Trump’s so-called ‘national emergency’ and stop stealing money from our military and end the lawsuits to seize land from Americans living on the border,” a transition spokesperson said. Biden maintained in August that “there will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration.”

(CNN)