President Donald Trump is signing two executive orders in keeping with campaign promises to build a wall along the Mexican border and crack down on immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
The president signed the two orders Wednesday, Jan. 25, during a ceremony at the Department of Homeland Security after honoring the department’s newly confirmed secretary, retired Gen. John Kelly.
The same day, Trump told ABC News anchor David Muir that construction of the wall would begin “as soon as we can physically do it.”
Millions of illegal immigrants live in the United States, and the proposal to build a wall to stymie further arrivals from Mexico and the rest of Latin America was a major talking point for Trump’s election campaign.
Aside from building the wall, Trump has also said that he would make Mexico pay for its construction.
“It will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form. You have to understand what I’m doing is good for the United States. It’s also going to be good for Mexico. We want to have a very stable, very solid Mexico.”
Not just illegal immigrants, but also copious amounts of drugs originating in various countries enter the US via Mexico. The trafficking helps finance Mexico’s powerful and brutal underworld.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
