U.S. President Donald Trump signed on Wednesday an order to start building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
A second executive order states that refugee policies will be severely modified within the next weeks, according to a new series of guidelines to be published on Thursday. According to the New York Times, the refugee restrictions will be applied to people seeking asylum from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia.
No more refugees will be admitted to the United States in the next 120 days. The draft of the executive order for restricting refugee access is available for reading here.
Trump will build a real, concrete wall
According to ABC News, Trump signed the order commanding to build a 1,875-mile wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. President Trump stated in an interview that Mexico would be paying back the construction of the wall for a 100 percent of the costs.
“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,” he stated to ABC News.
During the presidential campaign, it was speculated that building the wall would cost at least $8 billion, although analysts often state that the cost would be much higher.
When asked if U.S. taxpayers will be paying for the construction of the wall, Trump responded that it is a matter of how things fare in Mexico, seeing that negotiations are just taking place.
When asked a second time, the president reinstated that the wall would be fully reimbursed by the U.S.’ southern neighbor, but at a glance, it seems that the wall will have to be paid by American funds at first.
Responding to that, the interviewer let President Trump know that Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto stated that such project is an attack on the dignity of the Mexican people, which could be interpreted like “they’re not paying,” as ABC’s David Muir suggests.
When asked about when the construction of the wall would begin, Trump responded that it would be within “months.” 9For the complete one-hour special watch “President Trump: The First Interview” at 10 p.m. Eastern Time on ABC News.
No more foreign asylum seekers until further notice
The order concerning immigrants is titled “Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals, ” and it expresses how President Trump will tackle the apparent threat of a terrorist attack due to the tens of thousands of refugees that have sought asylum in the United States.
One of the first arguments written by Trump is that of the 19 foreign individuals that perpetrated the attacks of September 11, killing almost 3,000 Americans. The President states that hundreds of migrants have been implicated in terrorist acts since then, being people who claimed asylum after receiving a visa through the refugee resettlement program.
“The United States should not admit those who engage in acts of bigotry and hatred (including “honor” killings, other forms of violence against women, or the persecution of those who practice other religions) or those who would oppress members of one race, one gender, or sexual orientation,” reads the order.
For achieving such purpose, the issuing of visas to people seeking asylum will be suspended unless the country where the refugee is coming from issues “adequate information” that allows Homeland Security to confirm that the individual is not a security or public safety threat. With the argument of “temporarily reducing investigative burdens” to the implicated agencies, the President will suspend the entry of asylum seekers into the United States 30 days after the executive order is issued. The President expects reports within the next 30, 60, 90, and 120 days after the order becomes effective.
White House Press Secretary Shawn Spicer stated that law enforcement officials would cease to apply the technique known as “catch and release,” meaning that illegal immigrants are many times apprehended but not immediately detained or deported.
ABC also reports that President Trump is expected to bring back CIA severe interrogation techniques, more precisely, the ones that can be related to waterboarding, employed during President George W. Bush’s War on Terror and ceased after Obama took office. During the interview, Trump admitted his belief in the technique, but that its implementation would have to be supervised by security directors.
“And if they don’t want to do it, that’s fine. If they do want to do it then I will work toward that end. “I want to do everything within the bounds of what we’re allowed to do if it’s legal.” he stated to David Muir. When they’re chopping off the heads of our people, and other people. When they’re chopping off the heads of people because they happen to be a Christian in the Middle East – when ISIS is doing things that nobody has ever heard of since medieval times, would I feel strongly about waterboarding? As far as I’m concerned, we have to fight fire with fire.”
Source: The New York Times