Chad Wolf, AFPI’s Chairman of the Center for Homeland Security and Immigration, offered the following statement: 

“Yesterday’s decision by the Biden Administration to cancel existing border barrier contracts in the Rio Grande Valley Sector (TX) and Del Rio Sector (TX) is short sighted and dangerous.  The facts are clear – an effective border wall system works and is critical in gaining operational control of the border.  Where wall systems have been constructed, illegal narcotics, border crossings, human trafficking and smuggling activities have decreased.

With an historic border crisis underway on our southwest border, now is exactly the wrong time to take this action.  Instead of eliminating another barrier to illegal entry, the Biden Administration should listen to Border Patrol agents working the border.  They have repeatedly requested a border wall system that has the right mix of personnel, technology and infrastructure designed to meet the challenges and threats of our border.  Their request is unambiguous. 

Simply put, an effective border wall system allows the Border Patrol to decide where border crossings take place, not the smugglers, traffickers, or cartels.”