Border agency authorized to clean up wall construction sites

PHOENIX (AP) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been authorized to start cleaning up construction sites and close small gaps in the southern border wall nearly a year after President Joe Biden took office and ordered the building to stop. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement this week that wall building projects begun by the Defense Department will be turned over to his agency so any safety and environmental concerns can be addressed. Those projects are within the Border Patrol’s sectors in California, Arizona and parts of Texas. It was unclear when the cleanup will begin.