Washington (Web Desk): American President Donald Trump visited the Department of Homeland Security to sign an order to begin work to build a large physical barrier on the southern Mexican border, the White House said.
Earlier on Wednesday, US president promised to build a wall on the Mexican border while signing two immigration-related decrees.
According to American media, the Republican president is also expected to take steps in the coming days to limit legal immigration, including executive orders restricting refugees and blocking the issuing of visas to people from several Muslim-majority Middle Eastern and North African countries including Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Libya and Yemen.
The White House spokesperson said, Trump signed two executive orders at the Department of Homeland Security, one ordering construction of a wall along the roughly 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) U.S.-Mexico border and the other moving to strip federal grant money from “sanctuary” states and cities, often governed by Democrats, that harbor illegal immigrants.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said, “The American people are no longer going to have to be forced to subsidize this disregard for our laws.”
Trump said in an interview, construction on the wall would start within months, with planning starting immediately, and that Mexico would pay back to the United States “100 percent” of the costs. Mexican officials have said they will not pay for the wall.
During a White House briefing, Spicer referred to the wall as “a large physical barrier on the southern border.”
Spicer added “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, and illegal immigration into the United States.”
Trump has long said that he will make Mexico pay for the wall. “We’ll be reimbursed at a later date from whatever transaction we make from Mexico. I’m just telling you there will be a payment. It will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form. What I’m doing is good for the United States. It’s also going to be good for Mexico. We want to have a very stable, very solid Mexico,” Trump added.
His plans prompted an immediate outcry from immigrant advocates who said Trump was jeopardizing the rights and freedoms of millions of people.