Joe Biden demonizes former President Trump’s efforts to secure the southern border and curb illegal migration, including building a border wall, yet now it is being reported that he is finishing a section of the border wall in California. The administration has approved a Trump-era project to complete a section of the border wall between San Diego and Tijuana. This will lead to a permanent closure of the binational Friendship Park, a place that allows separated families to meet without a wall between them.

Pedestrians will no longer have access to Friendship Park. This section is the westernmost point of the U.S. along the border with Mexico in California. DHS Secretary Mayorkas has approved the designs. The designs have been authorized in the budget since Fiscal Year 2018 during the Trump administration. This is further proof of a real lack of urgency from this administration in dealing with crises, including the humanitarian crisis on the southern border.

Activists are not happy with Biden’s decision to finish up a Trump-era project. Their main complaint is the closing of Friendship Park on the California side of the border.

The project will replace existing barriers with two 30-foot walls across Friendship Park. These style walls started being added to the park during the Trump administration, but will be further extended through the park.

‘U.S. Border Patrol says they are just ‘replacing walls’ at Friendship Park, but the proposed construction amounts to a permanent closure of the U.S. side of this historic location,’ said John Fanestil, who is the convener of the Friends of Friendship Park coalition based in San Diego.

Fanestil further condemned the president and the project his administration approved: ‘Joe Biden should not be putting the finishing touches on Donald Trump’s border wall at Friendship Park.’

Current plans do not include an entrance for pedestrians on the secondary wall, meaning that while people on the Mexican side can get to the park, the U.S. side of the park will no longer be accessible to people wishing to meet up with those on the southern side of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Frankly, it is surprising to read about this development from Team Biden. Perhaps the Biden border crisis has reached a level that is unacceptable even to them. We’ve seen the construction materials for uncompleted sections of border wall in Texas, in the Del Rio sector, for example, just dumped on the ground and left to rust since Biden entered office and stopped the project. Have the numbers of apprehensions and got-aways risen enough to finally get the attention of Sleepy Joe? The decision is most likely to ease the frustration of potential voters in the midterm elections. The numbers at the border continue to be horrific and historically high.

On Day One of his time in office, Biden signed an executive order halting all border wall construction following his campaign promise that ‘not one more inch of wall’ would be built.

However, the Biden administration has more recently approved projects at multiple locations along the border, maintaining that the construction is to ‘replace’ existing wall despite using Trump-era designs.

The projects prevail as migration at the southern border continues to surge despite the White House repeatedly insisting that the border is closed, urging migrants not to make the dangerous trek.

June figures have not yet been released, but May saw a fourth straight month of migrant crossing increases at the southern border with Customs and Border Protection encountering 239,416 illegal border hoppers.

Is the Biden border crisis part of the transformation Biden promised when he took office? Yes. Yes, it is. It is deliberate. Biden and Mayorkas see nothing wrong with open borders. However, conservative and independent voters have a problem with the loss of sovereignty and the absence of the rule of law governing the U.S. borders. Democrats hoped to run on the Supreme Court’s rulings on Dobbs and the Second Amendment but that isn’t what the majority of voters are concerned about. It’s the economy, stupid. Biden has proven to be an even worse president than Jimmy Carter in a shorter time than it took for Carter to produce the national malaise experienced during his presidency. Remember, Biden is the guy who ran for president (his third time) as the man with decades of experience in elected office. He pledged that he knew how to unite the country and make government work for everyone. He lied. Biden is too old and incompetent to do the job. He simply doesn’t care. His staff keeps him protected and away from the press.

Activists are angry that Friendship Park will be inaccessible to those who use it now. Before the pandemic, Border Patrol agents would open a gate on weekends so people would have access to Friendship Park for a few hours. It closed during the pandemic and it has not reopened.

Crews have begun cutting down and reinstalling concertina wire as they prepare to replace the iconic portion of the border barrier that extends into the Pacific Ocean with a 30-foot wall that will also run into the water.

But plans also call for replacing a secondary barrier with a wall that will be just as tall but stop short of the water line, raising concerns that it will cut access to Friendship Park, where people on both sides of the border can meet up and even hold hands through the tiny gaps in the barrier.

“We’re horrified our park is going to be ruined by 30-foot walls,” said Daniel Watman, who represents volunteers who promote and maintain Friendship Park.

“The park has been closed for a couple of years and yet the families still keep coming,” he said. “Last weekend there was this guy that was yelling to his mother, ‘te quiero, I love you I miss you.’ It was heartbreaking.”

Border Patrol agents are providing some nuance. They claim that the barriers in place just need to be replaced due to corrosion which is making the structures unsafe. The adjacent ocean is adding to corrusion.“It is no longer structurally sound and is falling apart… The current secondary barrier was partially removed in preparation for new barrier construction prior to the pause.”

It doesn’t matter how they frame the explanation, though. Activists will not be satisfied until the borders are open and there is no law enforcement of laws on the books. Watman thinks the project should be stopped until the community has their say on the matter. He is disappointed that Biden has signed off on the project, especially since it is a reversal of one of his first executive orders – stopping the construction of the border wall.