The Texas Border Wall Order Against The Biden Administration You Likely Never Heard Of

 There hasn't been much news about it, but on March 8, Judge Drew Tipton of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued an order enjoining attempts by the Biden administration to take billions in appropriations for "The construction of [a] barrier system along the southwest border" and use it for other purposes.

Border barriers used to be a fairly non-controversial and bipartisan solution to border security, as best demonstrated by the fact that the Secure Fence Act of 2006 passed the House and Senate with support from both parties - including from then Sens.

By the 2020 presidential election, then-candidate Joe Biden had reversed his prior support for border barriers, arguing on his 2020 campaign website that Trump's "Obsession with building a wall does nothing to address security challenges while costing taxpayers billions of dollars".

Further, the Border Wall Plan explained: "DHS expects DoD will turn over multiple barrier projects, previously executed with military construction or counter-drug funding, in various stages of completion. DHS will need to absorb some potentially significant costs related to DoD's discontinued border wall projects."

Of the total amount made available under ''U.S. Customs and Border Protection - Procurement, Construction, and Improvements'', $1,904,468,000 shall be available only as follows: $1,375,000,000 for the construction of barrier system along the southwest border; $221,912,000 for the acquisition and deployment of border security technologies and trade and travel assets and infrastructure; $62,364,000 for facility construction and improvements; $199,519,000 for integrated operations assets and infrastructure; and $45,673,000 for mission support and infrastructure.

Judge Tipton stayed his order for seven days to allow the administration to seek an appeal, a stay that he extended after he issued a clarification on March 28 that his order allowed DHS to use that funding to buy land for border-wall construction.

If it stands, Judge Tipton's order would prevent the administration from spending money Congress has appropriated for the wall for anything other than the wall. 

https://cis.org/Arthur/Texas-Border-Wall-Order-Against-Biden-Administration-You-Likely-Never-Heard