Biden builds border wall

In a stunning turnaround of his administration's official policy. President Joe Biden ordered the construction of about 20 miles of border wall along a portion of the southern border. This latest stance is a stark contradiction of his campaign promise of not building another foot of the wall in contrast to Mr. Trump's strong insistence of constructing such a barrier. This latest move by the Biden administration is in response to the surge of migrants crossing through the southern border which critics and even some allies of the president have characterized as a humanitarian crisis.

Politically, Mr. Biden is left with no choice but to do something about the migrant surge. He has angered both conservative states and liberal cities where these migrants are received, processed, and relocated. There are not enough human and financial resources that the local governments can tap in order to answer the needs of thousands of the migrants flocking to their areas. One example to note is that even the mayor of New York City went to Mexico to tell the migrant communities that there is no more room for them in his sanctuary city. Federal enforcement agents are also overwhelmed and undermanned as they try to contain and manage the day-to-day crisis.

But the administration is quick to point out that they have no choice but to construct this portion of the border wall as funds for this purpose were already appropriated during the time of Mr. Trump and that Mr. Biden simply has to implement the plan. The secretary of the Department of Homeland Security tries to assuage angry critics by saying that this is not a new policy as it has always maintained its position that a border wall is not the answer. Still, whichever way Mr. Biden tries to spin his latest order, he stands to bear the brunt from all fronts.

For his supporters, he appears to have abandoned his campaign pledge and for his adversaries, he looks to strengthen their argument that he is weak on immigration and that he agrees that border walls do work. This did not go unnoticed by Mr. Trump who claimed that he was right all along regarding the construction of the wall and that Mr. Biden owes him an apology.

This new development only exemplifies how chaotic, challenging, and fragmented the issue on immigration is. As we enter into another presidential election cycle, every politician suddenly has the best answer on how to address this hot-button topic. But as soon as they are elected into office, immigrants are left with nothing but unkept promises and continuing uncertainties as to what their future might hold for them.