TRUMP’S DAY OF ACTION
Building the wall with Mexico to begin Waterboarding of suspects could return Ban on migrants from 6 Muslim nations
DONALD Trump delivered on his promise to build a wall on the Mexican border last night and pledged: ‘Beginning today, the United States of America gets back control of its borders.’
The US President signed an executive order to start building what he called an ‘impassable physical barrier’ along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico.
He told a ceremony at the Department of Homeland Security: ‘A nation without borders is not a nation.’
On what Mr Trump promised would be a ‘big day’ of action on national security, it was revealed:
Waterboarding may return as method of extracting information from terror suspects;
Would-be immigrants and visitors to the US would be subject to ‘extreme vetting’ based on their opinions and ideology;
Syrian refugees could be stopped
‘Restore the rule of law’
indefinitely and immigration from six other ‘terror prone’ Muslim countries would be suspended;
The Trump administration wants to keep open Guantanamo Bay detention and review US policies on using torture techniques;
The White House plans to reopen secret overseas ‘black sites’ for the interrogation and suspected torture of terror suspects.
Revealing plans for the border wall, Mr Trump plunged the US into a potentially heated confrontation with its southern neighbour as he insisted Mexico would foot the bill – estimated to be as high as £200 billion.
He spoke of a ‘crisis’ on America’s southern border as he was joined by parents of children who had been ‘horribly killed by individuals living here illegally’. He said: ‘We are going to restore the rule of law in the United States.’
Accusing the US media of ignoring the cost of open borders, Mr Trump said: ‘To all of those hurting out there, I repeat to you these words: we hear you, we see you and you will never ever be ignored again.’
Mr Trump also signalled a further clampdown on America’s estimated 11million illegal immigrants by signing an order to strip funds from ‘sanctuary cities’ where local leaders refuse to hand them over for deportation. He said his directives ‘will save thou-Mexico. sands of lives, millions of jobs, and billions and billions of dollars’.
Although Mr Trump referred specifically to a ‘wall’, his press secretary called it a ‘barrier’, suggesting the scale of the project might be scaled back.
Mr Trump initially claimed Mexico would pay for the wall but he has had to concede that US taxpayers will foot the bill but then recoup the cost from their southern neighbour. Sceptics doubt Mexico can ever be forced to pay.
Critics of the plan note that it is not only hugely expensive but physically unfeasible, with long mountainous stretches impossible to build on.
Mr Trump said yesterday the wall would help tackle the blight of Mexico’s powerful drug gangs. His order also calls for the tripling of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
In an interview aired last night, Mr Trump confirmed the US would pay for the barrier’s construction work – which would start within months – but eventually recoup the cost. Mexico has insisted it will not pay, with president Enrique Pena Nieto saying any wall ‘goes against our dignity as a country and our dignity as Mexicans’.
Sources last night said Washington might recoup the costs by adjusting its aid donations to
‘Extreme vetting’
Another option is to threaten to renegotiate the two countries’ trade relations.
In efforts to fulfil another of his election pledges on bolstering national security, Mr Trump is planning further executive orders designed to tackle Islamic terror.
A draft order revealed last night would set in train the ‘extreme vetting’ of Muslims entering the US from terrorism-hit countries.
The order, which aides said could be signed this week, calls for an immediate 30-day suspension to visas for travellers from unspecified countries whose presence would be ‘detrimental’ to US interests. The ban is expected to cover Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Libya and Somalia, among others. Refugee admissions from across the world will eventually be cut from 100,000 to 50,000 a year.
Theresa May last night insisted Britain will never condone torture. Asked whether Mrs May would challenge Mr Trump over the issue, her official spokesman said: ‘There are going to be issues where we differ with President Trump. The benefit of a close relationship is that we will be able to raise things with him directly.’
Barack Obama vowed to close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre where suspected Al-Qaeda and Taliban members have been held for years. He failed to close it but refused to send any more detainees there. The draft of Mr
Trump’s executive order reportedly instructs the Pentagon to continue using the Cuba base in Cuba ‘for the detention and trial of newly captured’ detainees, not only those linked to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, but also Islamic State.
A leaked draft of another proposed executive order ordered a review of the Army field manual to determine whether to use so-called ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ such as waterboarding.