Donald Trump ran for president promising to do many things but probably his most famous promise is to build a wall along the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Today, according to a report by Reuters, we know that Trump taking the first steps towards building that wall.
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Trump Team Asking for Agency Records On Border Wall
As part of a large request for documents and analysis, Donald Trump’s transition team asked the Department of Homeland Security last month to assess all assets available for border wall construction.
And in addition to border wall construction, the Trump team also requested information about the Department of Homeland Security’s capacity for expanding immigrant detention and about an aerial surveillance program that President Obama has scaled back
The Trump team also asked if federal workers have altered biographic identifying information that the Department of Homeland Security keeps about immigrants due to civil liberties concerns.
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In response to the transition team request, U.S. Customs and Border Protection staffers identified more than 400 miles along the U.S.-Mexico border, and about the same distance along the U.S.-Canada border, where new fencing could be erected, according to a document seen by Reuters.Reuters could not determine whether the Trump team is considering a northern border barrier. During the campaign, Trump pledged to build a wall and expand fencing on parts of the U.S.-Mexico border but said he sees no need to build a wall on the border with Canada.
Undoing President Obama’s immigration policies
In addition to their inquiries about the board wall and immigrant detention, the Trump transition team, “also asked for copies of every executive order and directive sent to immigration agents since Obama took office in 2009, according to the memo summarizing the meeting.”
Donald Trump has said he plans reverse Obama’s executive orders on immigration which include DACA – the 2012 executive order to allow children who were brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents to remain in the U.S. on temporary authorizations that allow them to attend college and work.
According to Reuters, “The program, known as DACA, collected information including participants’ addresses that could theoretically be used to locate and deport them if the policy is reversed. Another request of the transition team was for information about whether any migrant records have been changed for any reason, including for civil rights or civil liberties concerns, according to the internal memo seen by Reuters. A Department of Homeland Security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the agency interpreted the request to mean the transition team wanted to make sure that federal workers were not tampering with information to protect DACA recipients and other migrants from deportation.”
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