According to the Washington Free Beacon, Lopez Obrador called the wall "pure publicity." That presser followed a Thursday visit by a delegation from the U.S. State Department, which was led by Antony Blinken. Lopez Obrador commented that the administration does not even want to build the new sections of the wall. He added that during the meeting, the Mexican delegation said it does not believe the migration problem will be solved with a wall, saying, "We've always spoken about tending to the root causes."

Lopez Obrador has a point. In another story, the Free Beacon said that on Thursday, Biden stated that the administration is legally obligated to go through with the construction since the money for the project had been appropriated during the Trump administration and could not be used for anything else. Biden stated:

The money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to redirect that money. They didn't. They wouldn't, and in the meantime, there's nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what it was appropriated. I can't stop that.