Biden says US can’t ‘wall off’ as his Delaware beach home adds new barrier

President Biden touted a new joint US-Mexico-Canada effort to crack down on illegal border crossings at Tuesday’s summit.

“In today’s interconnected world, there can be no more questions – we can’t shut ourselves off from common problems,” Biden said along with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador.

“We are stronger and better when we work together, the three of us, and together we have made tremendous progress.”

López Obrador praised Biden’s approach to immigration and thanked him for stopping construction of the wall along the southern border.

“You are the first president of the United States in a very long time who has not built a single meter of a wall,” Lopez Obrador told Biden on Tuesday. “And we thank you for that, sir, although some may not like it, although conservatives do not like it.”

SENATORS FROM BOTH SIDES PERSONAL WITNESS TO THE MIGRANTS CRISIS AFTER BIDEN’S BORDER VISIT

Back at the president’s vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, construction began last week on a taxpayer-funded wall. This barrier, which consists of a tall white fence and gray stone pillars, is expected to be completed in September.

Biden repeatedly said during the campaign that “not one foot” of the border would be built in his administration.

CRITICS SAY BIDEN LEAVES EL PASO AFTER A BRIEF BORDER VISIT WITHOUT SEEING THE WORST AFFECTED AREAS

Despite this, last July the Biden administration authorized the sealing of some of the breaches in the border wall in Yuma, Arizona. Most recently, the administration sued Arizona to stop the state from using shipping containers to create a border barrier.

US President Joe Biden speaks to a US Border Patrol officer as they walk along the US-Mexico border fence in El Paso, Texas, January 8, 2023.
(Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

In fiscal year 2022, a record 2.3 million migrant encounters were recorded at the border, a trend that has not slowed down in 2023.

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Biden acknowledged the “unprecedented level of migration” at the North American Leaders’ Summit on Tuesday.

“On the way here, I stopped in El Paso, Texas to see the situation firsthand and meet with U.S. Border Patrol officials,” Biden said on Tuesday. “This is putting a real strain on communities in both Mexico and the United States.”