There is a problem with this article because it isn't about what it says it is. I only left it because the wall is an important issue too. So, they have the word buttons connected to the wrong article.
GOP looks for dollars to build the wall
begin quote from:
President targets 'sanctuary cities,' adds to border force
Trump orders construction of border wall, boosts deportation force
Now Playing Trump signs executive actions on border wall
Story highlights
- In addition to a wall, Trump will beef up border patrol forces and look to increase deportations
- The executive orders seek to end sanctuary cities and "catch and release" practices
- Border wall construction will begin 'as soon as we can,' Trump said, and US taxpayers will initially pay for it
Washington (CNN)President
Donald Trump on Wednesday started to reshape US immigration enforcement
policies via executive action, taking his first steps toward fulfilling
some of the most contentious pledges that defined his campaign --
building a border wall and speeding the deportation of undocumented
immigrants.
Trump
signed two executive orders directing the construction of a wall on the
US-Mexico border, boosting border patrol forces and increasing the
number of immigration enforcement officers who carry out deportations.
The orders also call for stripping sanctuary cities of federal grant
funding and announced sweeping new criteria that could make many more
undocumented immigrants priorities for deportation.
"Beginning
today, the United States of America gets back control of its borders,"
Trump told employees of the Department of Homeland Security at the
department's headquarters in Washington.
But
while Trump directed the "immediate construction of a physical wall on
the southern border," the executive orders do not cover the cost of the
wall. Trump has repeatedly promised that Mexico will reimburse US
taxpayers for the construction costs, a suggestion Mexican officials
have rejected out of hand.
The
president's moves sent alarm bells ringing in immigrant activist
circles, where questions had continued to swirl about whether Trump
would truly implement many of the hard-line immigration policies he
articulated during his campaign.
Trump
also indicated he does not need Congress to pass new legislation to
implement the border control and immigration reform agenda he outlined
during his campaign for president, saying he would "work within the
existing system and framework."
"We do not need new laws," Trump said soon after signing the two executive orders.
The
executive orders Trump signed Wednesday call for boosting the ranks of
Border Patrol forces by an additional 5,000 agents as well as for 10,000
new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to carry out
deportations. The orders noted that the increases were subject to Congress's appropriation of sufficient funds.
Building the wall
Construction
of the wall could begin in months, but planning for the massive project
is "starting immediately," Trump said Wednesday in an interview with
ABC News.
Trump confirmed his plans
to build the wall with federal funds and then seek reimbursement from
Mexico, an idea Mexico has rejected. But negotiations, he said, would
begin "relatively soon."
"I'm telling you there will be a payment. It will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form," Trump said.
Trump
also for the first time appeared to articulate on Wednesday the
argument he might make to Mexican officials as he looks to compel them
to pay for the wall.
Trump stressed
Wednesday that the wall would "help Mexico" by deterring illegal
immigration from countries further South through Mexico.
"We
are going to stabilize on both sides of the border and we also
understand that a strong and healthy economy in Mexico is very good for
the United States," Trump said.
Trump erases doubt about commitment to hardline policies
Trump's actions leave little doubt about whether his immigration policies as president would differ from his campaign rhetoric.
There
remained little question, for example, about whether Trump would push
to increase deportations of undocumented immigrants. His increases in
the number of border patrol and immigration officers -- adding 10,000
immigration officers to an ICE workforce of just 20,000 -- raised the
specter of Trump's campaign promise of mass deportations.
One
of Trump's executive actions was expected to call for tripling
"enforcement and removal operations/agents" of the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agency, which is charged with arresting and
deporting undocumented immigrants living in the US. The order also calls
for a 5,000-person increase in Customs and Border Protection personnel.
Marielena
Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center,
called Trump's actions Wednesday "extremist, ineffective and expensive"
and accused the president of using lies about immigrants to drive US
policy.
"Trump is taking a wrecking
ball to our immigration system. It shouldn't come as a surprise that
chaos and destruction will be the outcome," Hincapié said, adding that
her organization has already drafted legal papers to challenge Trump's
moves.
And Greisa Martinez,
advocacy director at the United We Dream Network, argued that Trump's
moves "lay the groundwork for mass deportation."
Trump's
executive orders on Wednesday did not address those of his predecessor,
former President Barack Obama, which safeguard undocumented immigrants
who came to the US as children or who are parents of lawful US residents
from deportation. Trump during his campaign signaled he would repeal
those orders.
New criteria for deportation priorities
Trump
also outlined new criteria for determining which undocumented
immigrants should be prioritized for deportation, putting hundreds of
thousands and perhaps millions more people at the top of the federal
government's list of people to deport.
Any
undocumented immigrant convicted or simply charged with a crime that
hasn't been adjudicated could be deported under the Trump
administration's new policy.
Under
Obama, only undocumented immigrants convicted of a felony, serious
misdemeanor or multiple misdemeanor were considered priorities for
deportation.
New priorities for
deportation under Trump also include any undocumented immigrants who
abuse public benefits, or simply those considered "a risk to public
safety or national security... in the judgment of an immigration
officer" -- an entirely open-ended premise.
Trump's
hardline immigration rhetoric and policy proposals during the campaign
often put him at odds not only with Democrats but with many in his own
party who called his proposal to build a wall on the US-Mexico border
unnecessary and his calls to deport all undocumented immigrants cruel
and unrealistic.
Trump persevered
in his hardline rhetoric throughout the campaign, resisting efforts to
pivot to a more moderate stance on the issue in the general election
despite calls to soften his rhetoric.
Now,
his actions on Wednesday took a big first step toward satisfying his
political base of support that hitched to his campaign amid Trump's bold
promises of building a wall, deporting undocumented immigrants and in
the process creating a safer country, despite a total lack of evidence
tying undocumented immigrants to higher crime rates.
Trump
catapulted his campaign into controversy and relevance with his
announcement speech in June 2015, in which he pledged some of the
hardline immigration policies he was set to enact and decried
undocumented immigrants as criminals and "rapists." Trump never
apologized for those comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment