As US President Barack Obama prepares to leave office on January 20, here are 10 things his presidency may be remembered for.
(AP File)
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Washington – President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered work to begin on building a wall across the Mexican border, angering his southern neighbour with his hardline stance on immigration.
The US leader instructed officials to begin to \u00ab\u00a0plan, design and construct a physical wall along the southern border\u00a0\u00bb and – perhaps more problematically – see how it could be funded.
\u00ab\u00a0A nation without borders is not a nation,\u00a0\u00bb Trump said, echoing former president Ronald Reagan, as he visited the Department of Homeland Security to sign two executive orders.
\u00ab\u00a0Beginning today, the United States of America gets back control of its borders,\u00a0\u00bb the Republican president said.
Hours later, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto demanded \u00ab\u00a0respect\u00a0\u00bb for his country in a nationally televised address.
\u00ab\u00a0I 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,\u00a0\u00bb Pena Nieto said.
\u00ab\u00a0I have said it time and again: Mexico will not pay for any wall,\u00a0\u00bb Pena Nieto said.
Meeting
A Mexican government official told AFP that Pena Nieto will weigh in the coming days whether to maintain a meeting with Trump in Washington on Tuesday.
Stemming immigration was a central plank of Trump’s election campaign.
His signature policy prescription was to build a wall across the 3 200km border between the United States and Mexico.
Some of the border is already fenced, but Trump says a wall is needed to stop illegal immigrants entering from Latin America.
The policy has become a clarion call for the US right and far-right – the core of Trump’s support.
A Morning Consult\/Politico poll released on Wednesday said 47% of voters support building a wall, with 45% against.
Experts have voiced doubts about whether a wall would actually slow illegal immigration, or if it is worth the billions it is expected to cost.
\u00ab\u00a0I suspect that a lot of Trump supporters would be just as happy with a big statue of a middle finger pointed south,\u00a0\u00bb said Congressman Luis Gutierrez.
\u00ab\u00a0Both are about equally effective as national security strategies. \u00a0\u00bb
Billion-dollar wall
Despite the high-octane rhetoric, Trump’s action was piecemeal, looking to identify existing funds that could be diverted toward the project.
The Republican-controlled Congress would need to supply billions of dollars more if the wall is to be anywhere near completed.
Trump’s party has spent the last decade preaching fiscal prudence, so cuts to existing programs would likely be required.
Trump also ordered a survey of the border to be completed within 180 days.
Much of the land needed to build the wall would have to be seized from private citizens in Texas, the state of Texas or tribal authorities.
That could lead to lengthy legal proceedings, political blowback and substantial expropriation payments.
\u00ab\u00a0The only real solution to reform our immigration system is to pass comprehensive immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship for the 11 million\u00a0\u00bb undocumented people in the United States, top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said.
Make Mexico pay?
Trump has promised to make Mexico pay for the wall, something the Mexican government has repeatedly said it will not do.
\u00ab\u00a0Ultimately it will come out of what’s happening with Mexico, we’re going to be starting those negotiations relatively soon. And we will be, in a form, reimbursed by Mexico,\u00a0\u00bb Trump told ABC earlier on Wednesday.
Trump aides have weighed hiking border tariffs or border transit costs as one way to \u00ab\u00a0make Mexico pay. \u00a0\u00bb
Another threat is to finance the wall by tapping into remittances that Mexican migrants send home, which last year amounted to $25 billion.
\u00ab\u00a0There are a lot of different ways of getting Mexico to contribute to doing this, and there are different ways of defining how exactly they pay for it,\u00a0\u00bb House leader Paul Ryan said in an interview on MSNBC, while also conceding that the United States is \u00ab\u00a0going to pay for it and front the money up. \u00a0\u00bb
Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and the country’s economy minister are currently in Washington to prepare for Pena Nieto’s visit next week, which now hangs in the balance.
Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo warned that Mexico could walk away from the negotiations if the US governments threatens remittances or insists on the wall payment.
Ban on Muslims?
Trump is also said to be floating the idea of a ban on refugees from Muslim-majority countries, including Syria.
Around 4.8 million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries alone, according to the United Nations. An estimated 18 000 Syrians have come to the United States.
Former officials said Trump could slow the flow down by moving resources away from processing visa requests, or cutting or freezing migrant quotas and programs.
The move has prompted a fierce backlash even before it was announced.
\u00ab\u00a0A ban on refugees would not make America safer,\u00a0\u00bb said Stephen Yale-Loehr of Cornell Law. \u00ab\u00a0Refugees from Syria already go through a 21-step screening process that takes 18-24 months. \u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0The head of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services told Congress in September 2016 that not a single act of actual terrorist violence has been committed by a refugee since 9\/11. \u00a0\u00bb
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