Washington, Jan 26: Citing a “crisis” along its southern border, US President Donald Trump has signed two executive orders for the construction of an “impassable” wall along the Mexican border to stop illegal migrants and speeding deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants.
“A nation without borders is not a nation. Beginning today, the United States of America gets back control of its borders, gets back its borders,” Trump said yesterday as he signed two executive orders at the Department of Homeland Security, acting on his campaign promises.
“We are in the middle of a crisis on our southern border.
The unprecedented surge of illegal migrants from Central America is harming both Mexico and the US and I believe the steps we will take starting right now will improve the safety in both of our countries, going to be very, very good for Mexico,” Trump said.
He said the two executive orders will save thousands of lives, millions of jobs, and billions and billions of dollars.
“These two orders are part of an immigration reform we outlined during the campaign. I want to emphasise that we will be working in partnership with our friends in Mexico to improve safety and economic opportunity on both sides of the border,” Trump said.
Trump said he wants to build an “impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall” between the US and Mexico.
The US-Mexico border is about 3,100 km-long and traverses all sorts of terrain from empty, dusty desert to the lush and rugged surroundings of the Rio Grande.
Some 1,046 km of the border is covered already by a confused and non-continuous series of fences, concrete slabs and other structures. Trump says his wall will cover 1,600 km and natural obstacles will take care of the rest.
Reacting to Trump’s moves, his Mexican counterpart, Enrique Pena Nieto condemned it, saying, his country will not pay for the building the controversial wall.
“I regret and condemn the decision of the United States to continue construction of a wall that, for years, has divided us instead of uniting us,” Pena Nieto said.
“Mexico does not believe in walls. I have said it time and again: Mexico will not pay for any wall,” he said, referring to Trump’s vow to make the southern neighbor pay for the barrier.
“Mexico gives and demands respect as the completely sovereign nation that we are,” Pena Nieto said.
However, he did not cancel his trip planned for the United States next week.
Pena Nieto also said he had ordered government agencies to step up protection for immigrants.
“I’ve asked for the minister of Foreign Relations to re- enforce protection measures to our citizens,” he said. He added that the 50 Mexican Consulates in the US will be used to defend the rights of immigrants in the country.
Meanwhile, Trump said he has deep admiration for the people of Mexico, he said he greatly look forward to meeting again with his Mexican counterpart.
“I’ll be doing that shortly. We will discuss close coordination on many, many important issues between our countries. This coordination includes the dismantling of cartels and keeping illegal weapons and cash from flowing out of America and into Mexico,” he said.
Trump said his executive order directs federal agencies to immediately start working on construction of a border wall.
Talking to reporters, White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer described Trump’s actions as the president “fulfilling one of his most significant campaign promises” to the American people by making America safe again, by taking steps to secure our borders and improve immigration enforcement inside the US.
The first order, he explained, is the border security and immigration enforcement improvements. It addresses long overdue border security issues and it’s the first order in that will be to build a large physical barrier on the southern border.
“Building this barrier is more than just a campaign promise, it’s a common sense first step to really securing our porous border. This will stem the flow of drugs, crime, illegal immigration into the US. And yes, one way or another, as the president has said before, Mexico will pay for it,” he said.
The US will create more detention space for illegal immigrants along the southern border to make it easier and cheaper to detain them and return them to their country of origin.
“We’re going to end the last administration’s dangerous catch and release policy, which has led to the deaths of many Americans,” he added.
Spicer said under the second executive order, federal agencies are going to unapologetically enforce the law, “no if’s, ands or buts”.
“We’re gonna restore the popular and successful secure communities program, which will help Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents target illegal immigrants for removal,” he said.
Spicer warned that the State Department is going to withhold visas and use other tools to make sure countries accept in return the criminals that came from their country.
“We’ll ensure that these countries take those individuals back and we’re gonna strip federal grant money from the sanctuary states and cities that harbor illegal immigrants,” he said.
“The American people are no longer going to have to be forced to subsidise this disregard for our laws. Reform of our immigration system has been at the top of President Trump’s priorities since he announced his candidacy,” Spicer said.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has condemned Donald Trump’s move to build a border wall but fell short of deciding whether to cancel an upcoming meeting with the US president.
Opposition leaders called on Pena Nieto to cancel Tuesday’s trip after Trump issued a widely expected order to begin work on the massive wall.
Without mentioning the trip, Pena Nieto said he would wait for a report from a high-level Mexican delegation holding meetings in the US capital this week and consult with governors and lawmakers before deciding on “the next steps to take.”
“I regret and condemn the decision of the United States to continue construction of a wall that, for years, has divided us instead of uniting us,” Pena Nieto said in a brief televised message.
“Mexico does not believe in walls. I have said it time and again: Mexico will not pay for any wall,” he said, referring to Trump’s vow to make the southern neighbor pay for the barrier.
“Mexico gives and demands respect as the completely sovereign nation that we are,” Pena Nieto said.
Pena Nieto said he ordered Mexico’s 50 consulates in the United States to act as legal counsel for the rights of migrants.
“Our communities are not alone. The government of Mexico will offer legal counsel that will guarantee the protection they need,” he said
