Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) lashed out at President Joe Biden on Wednesday, saying that Biden’s apparent plans to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border made him no different from former President Donald Trump.
The Biden administration announced the plan to add about 20 miles of wall to the border via a statement from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas pursuant to sections 102(a) and 102(b) of [the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996],” he said.
O’Rourke responded to the news in a post he shared with X: “1. Walls don’t work; 2. President Biden promised he wouldn’t build them; 3. Now even harder for voters to distinguish between him & Trump on border/immigration; 4. Wasted opportunity to use executive power to actually fix our asylum system instead of impotent political posturing.”
1. Walls don’t work
2. President Biden promised he wouldn’t build them
3. Now even harder for voters to distinguish between him & Trump on border/immigration
4. Wasted opportunity to use executive power to actually fix our asylum system instead of impotent political posturing https://t.co/AQkxokNd2a
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) October 5, 2023
O’Rourke was vocally opposed to any additional border wall construction during his ill-fated run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and even advocated for tearing down sections of the wall that were already built.
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MSNBC host Chris Hayes asked O’Rourke about it directly when he was still running for the presidency in 2019, saying, “If you could, would you take the wall down now? Knock it down?”
“Yes, absolutely,” O’Rourke replied. “I would take the wall down.”
Former President Donald Trump also responded to the Biden administration’s plan, saying it should reintroduce other parts of his border policy — namely the recently-expired Title 42 and Remain in Mexico.
“Biden sees our country is being invaded. What is he going to do about the 15 million people from prisons, from mental institutions, insane asylums, and terrorists that have already come into our country?” Trump asked. “He has to reinstate Remain in Mexico and Title 42. He has to do all of the other things that we were doing.”