Trump orders construction of wall on US-Mexican border

President Donald Trump has ordered construction of a U.S.-Mexican border wall, as he starts moving forward on his signature campaigning promises of cracking down on illegal immigration. In an interview to ABC News, Trump said the construction would start within months, with planning starting immediately, and that Mexico would pay back to the United States “100 percent” of the costs.

“The United States of America gets back control of its borders,” Trump declared during an appearance at the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday. He said the construction of the wall, envisaged by him as an ‘impassable physical barrier’, should save lives on both sides of the border by curbing sweeping trans-border organized crime.

BBC reports Trump’s directive includes hiring 10,000 more immigration officials to help boost border patrol efforts. Mexico, too, will benefit from the plan, he said.

The order is now to be approved by the Congress.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has said he “regrets and condemns” Trump’s decision to build a wall along the border, and warned Mexico was not going to pay for it. The Mexican government will do its utmost to protect the rights of its citizens on the U.S. territory, he said.

President Trump has also signed an executive order aimed at cutting funding to the so-called “sanctuary cities” that harbor illegal immigrants.

Another executive order Trump is likely to sign in the coming days would block the entry of refugees from Syria and suspend the entry of any immigrants from Muslim-majority Middle Eastern and African countries Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Libya and Yemen while permanent rules are studied.

Trump is also expected to order a review that could lead to bringing back a CIA program for holding terrorism suspects in secret overseas “black site” prisons