Trump signs order for border wall with Mexico
'I’m telling you there will be a payment [from Mexico]. It will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form'
US President Donald Trump has signed directives to start the construction of a border wall between the USA and Mexico and to crack down on US cities that shield illegal immigrants.
Trump signed what the White House described as executive orders that begin moving towards building a wall on the US-Mexico border, increasing border patrol forces and ordering an increase in deportations of undocumented immigrants.
“This is border security. We’ve been talking about this from the beginning. This is going to bring it over the top,” Trump said as he signed the first of two orders during a visit to the Department of Homeland Security, the agency that would implement those actions.
Construction of the wall could start in months, but planning for the major project is “starting immediately”, Trump said in an interview with ABC News.
He confirmed his plans to construct the wall with federal funds and then seek reimbursement from Mexico, a plan Mexico has resisted. However, Trump said that negotiations with Mexico will start “relatively soon”.
“I’m telling you there will be a payment. It will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form,” Trump said.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer also said that the executive orders will strip government funding for “sanctuary cities” that “harbour illegal immigrants”.
