The U.S. government does not want to build new sections of wall on its border with Mexico, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday, expressing doubt that the planned construction would be carried out.

"It's pure publicity," Lopez Obrador said in a regular morning press conference, after the Biden administration announced it would build additional sections of border wall, carrying forward a signature policy of the Trump administration.

President Joe Biden’s decision to proceed with construction of a wall on the southern United States border is “pure publicity,” according to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

"It's pure publicity,” the Mexican leader said Friday, one day after a visit from a delegation of U.S. Cabinet officials. "They don't want to [build more sections of the wall]. That's what they told us.”

President Joe Biden says he’s been forced to violate a campaign promise by adding some new construction to Donald Trump’s border wall.

Big city Democratic mayors are angrily demanding more engagement from the Democratic president to help deal with a wave of migrants seeking asylum. One of them – New York Mayor Eric Adams – is in Latin America this week.

Immigration reality is scrambling the normal immigration rhetoric in uncomfortable ways for Democrats, who generally want to appear welcoming but appear to be taking a harder line along with their new positions.

When he was campaigning for president, Joe Biden pledged that “not another foot” of border wall would be built on his watch. But this week, his administration announced plans to do just that.

In a public notice posted Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security outlined its intent to build up to 20 new miles of Trump administration-era border barriers in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, one of the busiest crossing spots for migrants attempting to enter the U.S. 

The Biden administration has paved the way for the construction of a new wall along the southern border in Texas by waiving more than a dozen federal laws in a stark reversal of its previous stance on the physical barrier.

The Department of Homeland Security announced the plan to bypass long drawn-out environmental reviews in order to expedite border wall construction in Starr County, TX as the administration struggles to handle an ongoing migrant crisis that has strained local and federal resources.

The Biden administration will waive 26 laws to build additional border barriers in the Rio Grande Valley, according to a notice posted to the Federal Register Wednesday, citing “high illegal entry.”

Construction of the wall will be paid for using already appropriated funds earmarked specifically for physical border barriers. But the move comes at a time when a new surge of migrants is straining federal and local resources and placing heavy political pressure on the Biden administration to address a sprawling crisis.

The Biden administration, in an about-face to its previous stance, declared Wednesday that there was an "immediate need" to expedite the construction of U.S.-Mexico border walls in Starr County, Texas, in response to the ever-growing number of illegal entries by migrants.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said he will waive dozens of federal regulations—26 in total—in order to fast-track the construction of roads and barriers along the southern border in Texas.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday there is an “acute and immediate need” to build border wall in southern Texas, and issued an order waiving some of the country’s most iconic environmental protection laws to speed up construction.

Mr. Mayorkas identified dozens of miles of border where he plans to build a barrier and roads, and where he indicated those environmental laws would be a hindrance.

As deep blue New York scrambles to metabolize the tens of thousands of illegal migrants who have flooded the state since last year, many residents say they want a southern border wall.

More than four in ten New York state residents — 41% — said they support a border wall spanning the entire length of the country’s southern border with Mexico, according to a Siena College Poll released Tuesday.

Even in New York City, 38% of city dwellers said they support a border wall.

A federal report released Thursday found numerous instances where construction of the border wall during the Trump administration adversely impacted wildlife, the environment and Indigenous and other cultural sites on the Southwest border.

The report by the Government Accountability Office, “Southwest Border: Additional Actions Needed to Address Cultural and Natural Resource Impacts from Barrier Construction,” was prepared at the request of U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Arizona, who is ranking member of the House Natural Resource Committee.