President Donald Trump yesterday signed a sweeping set of immigration-related executive actions jumpstarting a wall along the US-Mexico border, cracking down on sanctuary cities, and directing significant resources toward swifter deportations for undocumented immigrants currently in the country.
Less than a week into his presidency, Trump is following through on some of his biggest campaign plans, satisfying supporters eager to combat the flow of undocumented immigrants into the US but alarming activists worried about rising xenophobia and a new era of mass deportations, reports politico.com.
Trump, who signed the orders before around 70 people at the Department of Homeland Security around 1:30pm, overall has been focusing much of his energy on executive actions during his first week, having already cranked out documents undercutting Obamacare, freezing regulations, halting most federal government hiring, reining in abortion funding overseas, and advancing the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines.
Trump this week is set to slash the number of refugees to be allowed to resettle in the US, according to the New York Times, particularly from Syria and other Muslim-majority countries.
Around 4.8 million Syrians have fled to neighbouring countries alone, according to the United Nations.
An estimated 18,000 Syrians have fled to the US.
Former officials said Trump could slow the process down by moving resources away from processing visa requests, or cut migrant quotas and programmes, AFP reports.
The orders would restrict immigration and access to the US for refugees and visa holders from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, according to the Washington Post.
Citizens from those countries already face large obstacles to obtaining US visas.
But the move has prompted a fierce backlash even before it was announced.
“Donald Trump is making good on the most shameful and discriminatory promises he made on the campaign trail,” said Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council. Iran was one of the countries that may be listed.
“He called for a Muslim ban and is now taking the first steps to implement one. This will not stand. The American people are better than this.”
“I just signed two executive orders that will save thousands of lives, millions of jobs and billions and billions of dollars,” Trump declared during remarks at DHS. He added, “By working together, safe borders and economic cooperation, I truly believe we can enhance the relation between our two nations, to a degree not seen before, certainly, in a very, very long time. I think our relationship with Mexico is going to get better.”
The first executive order signed yesterday directs DHS to use existing funding to begin work on the border wall, although its completion will require an appropriation from Congress, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said at the daily briefing.
“Building this barrier is more than just a campaign promise. It’s a common-sense first step to really securing our porous border,” Spicer said. “This will stem the flow of drugs, crime, illegal immigration into the United States. And yes, one way or another, as the president has said before, Mexico will pay for it.”
Spicer did not elaborate on how Mexico will be forced to fund a project that is certain to cost billions of dollars.
In an interview with ABC News taped yesterday afternoon, Trump said construction would begin “as soon as we can. As soon as we can physically do it.”
“I would say in months, yeah,” he told ABC’s David Muir. “I would say in months. Certainly, planning is starting immediately.”
Trump’s executive order, which begins the process of building the wall, also seeks to provide DHS more resources in general to stop illegal immigrants entering the US.
Spicer said the Trump administration will also seek to create more detention facilities for undocumented immigrants along the US border, centres that he said would allow for swifter and cheaper deportations.
The second executive order focuses on immigration enforcement away from America’s borders. The press secretary said that “federal agencies are going to unapologetically enforce the law, no ifs, ands, or buts.”
A programme to aid Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in targeting undocumented immigrants for removal will be reinstated, Spicer said, and the State Department will withhold visas for nations who refuse to accept deportees being sent back to their home countries.
Federal grant money will be stripped from so-called sanctuary cities that harbour undocumented immigrants from the federal government, Spicer said, although he explained the particulars of how that will work have not yet been determined.
Absent from the directives is any mention of DACA, the controversial Obama administration programme that currently spares minors illegally brought to the US by their parents from the prospect of deportation. Spicer said more action related to DACA, the repeal of which remains a priority for conservatives, may come later in the week.
Source: The Daily star
