乔·拜登（Joe Biden）即将上任的政府将新的重点放在了数十亿美元的美国 - 墨西哥边境墙建筑计划上，这是早期且备受瞩目的唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）的优先事项。

The president-elect stated emphatically during campaign stops in Texas that “not another foot” of wall will be built under his administration and that federal lawsuits to seize Rio Grande border land—almost all privately owned—will be dismissed.

“We want that in concrete terms,” Ricardo de Anda, a Laredo, Texas attorney and anti-wall activist told ENR. There are 221 miles of barrier under construction, says U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security unit.

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The Democratic National Committee is developing a resolution asking the new administration to immediately end President Trump’s border-security emergency declaration used to justify transfer of billions of dollars in Defense Dept. funding for wall construction, with numerous legal challenges still pending. The resolution also seeks a moratorium on wall construction and a halt to eminent domain proceedings.

A federal judge ruled Nov. 15 that acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf was not lawfully serving as secretary, which De Anda says negates his authority to justify wall building by declaring the Texas border a “high priority” security risk. “We made the claim months ago that Wolf did not have authority to issue a directive to build the wall here,” the attorney says.

About $10 billion in border wall construction contracts have been issued, but they can be terminated for convenience. Some wall critics worry that the stipulation was removed from border wall contracts, but the government has an “inherent right” to terminate for convenience whether or not it is expressly written in the contract, says the Congressional Research service.

Procurement experts such as law professorJohn Horanat Georgetown University, says the government generally has more leeway in contract termination than private construction owners.

In July, Homeland Security’s Inspector General said the border patrol agency did not complete required analysis of alternatives to identify the best solution for portions of the wall, which some observers say could give more weight to possible contract cancellations.

If and when contracts are terminated, federal regulations require contractors to be compensated fairly. The government “will have to pay for what’s been completed and for us to demobilize,” Marty Jorgensen, a unit president of wall contractor Barnard Construction, told ENR. The Montana contractor—which has been awarded more than $1 billion in border wall work, according to media reports based on federal documents—hopes to be made whole, he says.

Whether any of the 360 miles of bollard-style wall that has been built will be torn down is another question. Biden did not respond when asked if that would happen. “We want it torn down, but we are taking it one step at a time,” de Anda says.

A New Look at Immigration

On a related topic, immigration reform could also be back on the table under the new administration.

Mike Bellaman, CEO of the Associated Builders and Contractors, says he sees no appetite for comprehensive immigration reform, creating pathways to legal citizenship that could gain ground, particularly for those with DACA and Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

估计有100,000多名建筑工人被DACA或TPS覆盖。贝拉曼（Bellaman）表示，许多ABC成员公司表示愿意赞助其TPS员工或长期工作签证的公民身份的途径。

“We’d welcome a productive conversation around making that happen,” he says.

吉姆·扬（Jim Young）是一名高级联合总承包商国会关系主任同意的，并指出，为DACA或TPS身份的人致以公民身份，这是“两党制的难得的机会”。DACA和TPS有很多同情。”