Trump to trigger Mexico border wall plan

Donald Trump is to trigger his plan to build a wall on the US-Mexico border, in a symbolic move to follow through on one of the signature pledges of his populist campaign for the White House.

کد خبر: ۶۵۹۹۶۲

تاریخ: ۰۶ بهمن ۱۳۹۵ - ۱۱:۲۱

The new US president is expected on Wednesday to issue an executive order directing the government to use funds to start construction. US media reported that Mr Trump would sign the order during a visit to the Department of Homeland Security whose secretary, retired general John Kelly, was confirmed last Friday.

The wall is one of several immigration and border security measures expected to be announced on Wednesday, as the president moves to implement his controversial anti-immigrant agenda.

Mr Trump on Tuesday hinted at the move, tweeting: "Big day planned on NATIONAL SECURITY tomorrow. Among many other things, we will build the wall!”

The president shocked the world when he launched his election campaign by calling for the wall and describing Mexican immigrants as rapists and murderers. His effort to start building comes a week before Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto visits Washington.

Mr Trump insisted during the campaign that Mexico would pay for the wall — a claim rejected by the Mexican government. Since his election, however, Mr Trump has retreated, saying the US taxpayer will initially pay for the construction but will later be reimbursed by Mexico.

The moves on Wednesday will boost the number of measures Mr Trump has taken in his first week to fulfil promises made on the campaign trail on issues from immigration to jobs to trade. On Monday he withdrew the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, and will soon formally inform Mexico and Canada that he wants to renegotiate the Clinton-era North American Free Trade Agreement.

Mr Trump is also expected this week to reveal measures that would temporarily block refugees from Syria and other countries in the Middle East. Religious minorities fleeing those countries, notably Christians, would be exempted.

During the campaign he sparked controversy by calling for a total ban on Muslims entering the US — a suggestion that earned a rebuke from Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives — but he has since moderated that stance.

Towards the end of the campaign Mr Trump described his new position as "extreme vetting”, as he lambasted the Obama administration for not temporarily halting a programme to relocate Syrian refugees inside the US.

Sean Spicer, White House spokesman, on Tuesday said Mr Trump would start working with his officials to craft an extreme vetting plan after Rex Tillerson, his nominee for secretary of state, was confirmed by the Senate.

A senior Republican Senate aide said the executive actions were expected to have broad support among Republicans in Congress, and played down their significance, noting that the US already did not allocate many visas to individuals from countries such as Somalia and Libya, and that Republicans had long promised to strengthened border security.

The aide portrayed the flurry of executive actions as a way for Mr Trump to shore up support among his voters after his first days in office were overshadowed by controversies, including the new White House press secretary making false statements about the attendance numbers at Mr Trump’s inauguration and attacking the media; and continued probes into Trump aides’ alleged ties to Russia.

"[Mr Trump] needs to get his base in line after a kind of creaky start,” the aide said. The new actions, he added, would "change the coverage”.

The move to make it harder for some Muslims to enter the US has already sparked criticism.

"Donald Trump is making good on the most shameful and discriminatory promises he made on the campaign trail,” said the National Iranian American Council. "He called for a Muslim ban and is now taking the first steps to implement one. This will not stand. The American people are better than this.”

For much of the campaign, Mr Trump talked about deporting the 11m undocumented immigrants in the US. But closer to election day he appeared to temper his views by suggesting his initial focus would be on illegal immigrants with criminal records — a move that appeared designed to shore up Hispanic support.

"When it comes to immigration and the promises that the president made during the campaign to both ensure that we build a wall and enforce our southern border, as well as reform our entire immigration system, his priority is first and foremost focused on people who pose a threat to people in our country, to criminals, frankly,” Mr Spicer said on Tuesday.

Mr Trump has come under pressure from some of his supporters to follow through on his vow to eliminate "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals”, an Obama-era programme that urged 750,000 children who came to the US illegally to identify themselves to authorities in exchange for being shielded from deportation. While the president-elect had promised to deport the "Dreamers”, his administration does not appear to have taken a final decision on how to proceed.

"With respect to Daca . . . he’s continuing to make sure that his cabinet-level team starts to organise and create a plan to move forward with respect to that issue,” Mr Spicer said.