On Wednesday, President Donald Trump made the first step towards fulfilling one of biggest campaign promises – and breaking one.
Trump issued directives today to begin construction on a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. He claims that it “will improve safety in both countries” and that “a nation without borders is not a nation.”
The plans also call for additional funding and resources for border security agents, detention space for undocumented immigrants, and more aggressive deportation measures.
However, the wall comes at a big price not for Mexico, but for U.S. taxpayers.
For the project, which Trump states will start “in months” and has an estimated $15 to $25 billion price tag, will be paid for by the United States, not by Mexico.
In an interview with ABC news on Wednesday, Trump states that the U.S. federal government will be “reimbursed at a later date” by the Mexican government. “I’m just telling you there will be a payment,” Trump stated during the interview, without giving further details. Mexico officials have insisted that they will not pay for such a project.
Trump says negotiations with Mexico will begin “relatively soon.”
Trump is also expected to announce plans to indefinitely block Syrian refugees from entering the United States and to institute a temporary halt on all refugees from the rest of the world.
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