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Thursday, Apr. 8, 2021

Has President Joe Biden taken down the southern border wall that former President Donald Trump built?

Olivera Perkins, Lead Stories
no

On Joe Biden's first day in office as president, January 20, 2021, he ordered a "pause in construction and obligation of funds" relating to the expansion of the border wall that former President Donald Trump had decreed.

Biden's order says nothing about tearing down the part of the wall between the United States and Mexico built during the Trump administration. In fact, Biden's order gives the option of resuming wall projects.

Biden's order undoes Trump's February 15, 2019, proclamation declaring a national emergency at the southern border.

Biden's order calls for the secretary of defense, the secretary of homeland security and other federal officials to "develop a plan for the redirection of funds concerning the southern border wall."

A January 22, 2021, Associated Press article said "billions of dollars of work" remain unfinished on the wall, but is still under contract.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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