Joni Ernst introduces legislation for states to continue building border wall
Eden Villalovas
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Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) is set to introduce a bill on Tuesday aimed at helping states get the resources they need to finish building the Trump-era border wall.
“I’m introducing my BUILD IT Act, which would allow the materials the federal government has already purchased to be taken by our states and allowing our states to continue the border wall,” Ernst said on Monday. “It’s a simple solution.”
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The BUILD IT Act requests that the federal government provide states that have attempted to continue to assemble the border wall with necessary materials and terminate certain contracts related to the protection of materials that were intended to be used in construction.
“The Federal Government shall deliver to the governments of Arizona, of California, of New Mexico, and of Texas, upon request, any materials associated with the construction of the physical barrier along the international border between the United States and Mexico,” according to the bill, which was obtained by the Washington Examiner prior to its introduction.
The bill also says the government can’t charge for any delivery of material to the states.
The legislation comes as Title 42, which prevented immigrants who crossed the border from seeking asylum during the COVID-19 pandemic, nears an end. Ernst has backed the continuation of the border wall and warned of the possibilities that would occur if Title 42 is lifted, which is set to end Thursday.
“This will be an impact to the border communities initially as they are trying to absorb all these migrants,” Ernst said Monday. “It is already a humanitarian crisis. It will increase exponentially next week.”
Ernst has been leading the charge for redistributing materials to bolster the border wall in recent years.
“We have a huge crisis ongoing at the southern border,” Ernst said in a press conference in May 2022. “And yet what we see the Biden administration attempting to do is lift Title 42. So we know that we’ll see more illegal crossings if Title 42 is lifted.”
Arizona and Texas have both pushed to finish the project, and the Biden administration has fought back.
Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, sued the administration in October 2021, demanding the previously approved funds be used to build the wall. In July 2022, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against former Gov. Doug Ducey (R-AZ) over a makeshift border wall created from shipping containers.
The legislation was first proposed last year with an earlier version by Ernst and Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL). The bill was co-sponsored by a handful of GOP leaders, such as Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who opposed Biden’s border policy, and it garnered support from the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
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The Biden administration halted the construction of a southern border wall in 2021, pausing all construction. Biden stated in a press release on the day he took office that tax dollars would no longer be contributed to the wall and that officials would be “directing a careful review of all resources appropriated or redirected to construct a southern border wall.”
“Many of these people have been coached by the cartels to claim asylum,” Ernst said on Fox. “They will never show up in court. They will be turned out into the United States.”
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