CONSTRUCTION PROJECT — On Wednesday evening, the Biden administration put out the call: Build The Wall. The administration announced that it was waiving 26 federal laws in order to allow the construction of Trump’s border wall to continue in Texas, breaking a key campaign promise as he attempts to stem growing complaints from both parties about a worsening migrant crisis. And today, senior administration officials announced that they would resume deportation flights to Venezuela , with 240,000 Venezuelans expected to be deported. The actions are a sudden change in direction for Biden, who vowed on the campaign trail that there would “not be another foot” of border wall built. They’re also a tacit acknowledgment that the administration is getting swamped on the politics of border security. Asked by reporters about the change of course today, Biden said he still does not believe border walls work, and that “the money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get [Congress] to reappropriate it, to redirect that money. They didn’t, they wouldn’t.” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre expanded on that answer, saying, “In August, the President told Congress we needed up to 4,000 more troops to support border operations; resources, equipment, and overtime to support the operations of 24,000 more Customs and Border Protection; 39,000 more detention beds; new technology to prevent cartels from moving fentanyl. And Republicans failed. They failed to act.” While Biden insists that his position has not evolved, the moves aren’t happening in a vacuum. Within the party, the issue is creating a wedge as top Democrats in three of the bluest states in the nation — Illinois, Massachusetts and New York — pressure the administration for action amid increasing arrivals of migrants. Thousands of those migrants have been flown and bused to their states over the past year by Republican governors in protest of Biden administration immigration policies. Democratic politicians in those states who would otherwise be loath to break ranks and criticize Biden on such a highly charged issue — and against the backdrop of a looming presidential election — are now unloading on the president. In Massachusetts, a visibly frustrated House Speaker Ron Mariano said Wednesday that “the guy’s running for president. He better start paying attention to this… We need someone to take charge of [the issue of immigration] and say ‘this is what you can expect.’” In an open letter to Biden on Monday, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker argued that “as the numbers [of asylum seekers] being transported to Chicago are accelerating, the humanitarian crisis is overwhelming our ability to provide aid to the refugee population… there is much more that can and must be done on a federal level.” And before Biden was in New York for the UN General Assembly meetings in September, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said “while [Biden’s] here, I think that they should really reflect on, New York City has done its part… We’re getting no support on this national crisis.” Adams and Biden, once fast friends, avoiding seeing one another while Biden was in New York. Things haven’t gotten any better since September; on Tuesday Adams said the White House is “wrong on immigration.” Yet even as local Democratic officials criticize the president, none have asked specifically for the continuation of the border wall. “We need two things from the Biden administration: We need federal funding and we need expedited work authorizations,” Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat who sits on Biden’s national campaign advisory board, said Wednesday. Recent polling suggests public sentiment toward immigration in general has turned in recent years — and the Democratic Party’s standing on the issue has deteriorated. In May 2020, according to Gallup, 26 percent of those polled said the level of immigration should be decreased. When Gallup asked the same question in June, that number had risen to 41 percent. The most recent NBC News poll gave an idea of the precariousness of Biden’s position. The survey found that Democrats face their largest deficit ever on the question of immigration — a gap that began expanding once Biden took office. Just 27 percent of registered voters said that Democrats better handle the issue of immigration while 45 percent said Republicans better handle the issue. The numbers were even worse when the question was phrased in terms of securing the border. When asked which party would do a better job of dealing with border security, 50 percent said the GOP, compared to just 20 percent who said Democrats would do a better job — the widest gap of any of the 11 issues tested. So despite his insistence that a border wall won’t work, Biden’s building one. One major difference between him and his predecessor? Biden’s not insisting Mexico will pay for it . Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s authors at cmchugh@politico.com and cmahtesian@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @calder_mchugh and @PoliticoCharlie .
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