Washington: US President Donald Trump took a first step toward fulfilling his pledge to “build a wall” on the Mexican border on Wednesday by signing two immigration-related decrees.
Trump visited the Department of Homeland Security to approve an order to begin work to “build a large physical barrier on the southern border,” according to the White House.
Trump also signed measures to “create more detention space for illegal immigrants along the southern border” according to White House spokesman Sean Spicer.
“We’re going to once again prioritize the prosecution and deportation of illegal immigrants who have also otherwise violated our laws,” he said.
Controlling immigration was a central plank of Trump’s election campaign. His signature policy prescription was to build a wall across the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) 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.
In 2014, there were an estimated 5.8 million unauthorized Mexican migrants in the United States, according to Pew, with fewer arriving each year before that.