Mexico Wall
Early in the campaign, Trump committed to building a wall between the United States and its southern ally. He has backed up that rhetoric with an Executive Order to do just that. There is continued debate about not only the need, purpose, and construction of such a wall, but also who will pay for it.
See also Mexico.
Timeline
| 2016.02.25 | Here is what would happen in Trump's first 100 days if he beats a Democratic nominee on November 9, 2016. theguardian.com (See also First 100 Days, Foreign Policy, Domestic Policy, Supreme Court, Vice-President, Guantánamo, Immigration, Syria, China, Mexico) |
| 2016.05.04 | What Trump says his presidency would look like, including a wall design, an immigration ban on Muslims, an audit of the Federal Reserve, and plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act by the end of his First 100 Days. nytimes.com (See also First 100 Days, Affordable Care Act, Immigration, Mexico) |
| 2016.11.15 | Trump advisor Kobach says transition team is planning for Mexico wall and considering Muslim registry. reuters.com (See also Muslims, Muslim Registry, Presidential Transition) |
| 2017.01.06 | Former Mexican President Vicente Fox Quesada tweets "Trump may ask whoever he wants, but still neither myself nor Mexico are going to pay for his racist monument. Another promise he can't keep." twitter.com (See also Mexico) |
| 2017.01.06 | Trump tweets "The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later!" twitter.com (See also Mexico) |
| 2017.01.06 | Trump, reversing field on a campaign promise, says American taxpayers will pay for the Mexico wall, with Mexico reimbursing the U.S. later. nytimes.com (See also Mexico) |
| 2017.01.10 | John Kelly shies from Trump's wall and Muslim registry in confirmation hearing. theguardian.com (See also John Kelly, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration, Muslim Registry) |
| 2017.01.10 | These are some of the key points of John Kelly's confirmation hearing for Secretary of Homeland Security. theguardian.com (See also John Kelly, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration, Muslim Immigration Ban, Muslim Registry) |
| 2017.01.16 | Homeland Security nominee Kelly says border wall "will not do the job." latimes.com (See also John Kelly, Department of Homeland Security, Immigrants, Immigration, Mexico) |
| 2017.01.16 | Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto cancels meeting with Trump in response to executive order to build a border wall. nytimes.com (See also Mexico) |
| 2017.01.25 | By cracking down on immigration and threatening martial law, Trump is following through on his incendiary campaign promises. vanityfair.com (See also First 100 Days, Immigration, Sanctuary Cities, Immigrants) |
| 2017.01.25 | Mexican politicians and public officals demand that President Peña Nieto cancel Trump visit in retaliation for Trump's border wall executive order. theguardian.com (See also Mexican Americans) |
| 2017.01.25 | Politico breaks down the key components of Trump's executive orders on immigration. politico.com (See also First 100 Days, Immigration, Sanctuary Cities) |
| 2017.01.25 | Rep. Will Hurd (R-Tex) says Trump's executive order for border wall is “the most expensive and least effective way to secure the border.” washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.01.25 | The biggest winners of Trump's border wall are likely to be cement firms and construction workers in Mexico. theguardian.com (See also Mexico) |
| 2017.01.25 | This is a transcript of ABC News anchor David Muir’s interview with President Trump. abcnews.go.com (See also First 100 Days, NAFTA, Trade, Jeff Sessions, John Kelly, DACA, Voter Fraud, James Mattis, Mike Pompeo, Iraq, Infrastructure, Affordable Care Act, Muslim Immigration Ban) This is a transcript of ABC News anchor David Muir’s interview with President Trump on Jan. 25, 2017. |
| 2017.01.25 | Trump is set to unveil plans to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico, but there is a question of where the money will come from to pay for it. bloomberg.com (See also First 100 Days, Mexican Americans) |
| 2017.01.25 | Trump signs executive order to begin Mexico border wall and cut funding from sanctuary cities in immigration crackdown. theguardian.com (See also First 100 Days, Immigration, Sanctuary Cities, Immigrants, Mexican Americans) |
| 2017.01.26 | A rift opens between US and Mexico as Trump presses forward with his wall plan and President Enrique Peña Nieto on Thursday cancels a trip to Washington after emphasizing that Mexico would not finance the wall. washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days, Mexico) The decision comes a day after Trump signed an executive order to start building a wall along the Mexican border. |
| 2017.01.26 | Ambiguous statements, first floating a 20% tax on Mexican imports then pulling back, reveal Trump’s uncertainty on funding border wall. washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days, NAFTA) More attention is being paid to the idea of a border adjustment tax, which because of U.S. imports could raise a lot of money. |
| 2017.01.26 | Border Patrol chief removed from post after clashing with powerful union who endorsed Trump. washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days) Mark Morgan’s departure comes one day after President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. |
| 2017.01.26 | Congressional Republicans wonder who will pay for the wall, while Trump and his aides insist Mexico will through reforms to the U.S. tax code. washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days) Republicans were confused about whether such a change would be considered a tariff or a tax; many do not support a tariff. Lawmakers are also concerned that without such changes, there is no way to offset or make up elsewhere the costs of the enormous structure. |
| 2017.01.26 | Mexico’s President Enrique Peã Nieto cancels meeting with Trump over wall executive order. nytimes.com (See also First 100 Days, Mexico) |
| 2017.01.26 | Presidential historians agree that Trump's executive orders do little more than advance Trump's main policy goals. Instead, it will be up to the president’s Cabinet officials and Congress to follow through on most of the actual policymaking. newsweek.com (See also First 100 Days, Affordable Care Act, Muslim Immigration Ban) |
| 2017.01.26 | Sean Spicer quickly backpedals on paying for Wall with 20% tax on Mexican imports. talkingpointsmemo.com (See also Mexico, Immigration, Sean Spicer) |
| 2017.01.26 | Trump calls for 20% tax on Mexican imports to pay for border wall following Mexican president cancelling summit. theguardian.com (See also First 100 Days, Mexico, Trade, NAFTA) Reince Priebus later called Trump's 20% tax one of a "buffet of options." Daniel Ikenson, director of the Herbert A Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, said the suggestion had put the US in “dangerous waters”. |
| 2017.01.26 | Trump proposes a 20% tax on Mexican Imports to pay for a border wall, and supports imposing a 20% tax on all imports. nytimes.com (See also Mexico, Economy) |
| 2017.01.26 | Trump’s executive orders, drawn up without consulting his Cabinet or legal experts, leave government agencies in the dark, Republican leaders scrambling to catch up, and policy experts wondering if some of them are even legal. vanityfair.com (See also First 100 Days, Stephen Miller, James Mattis, Department of Defense, Mike Pompeo, Central Intelligence Agency, Keystone XL Pipeline, Sanctuary Cities, Steve Bannon, Unprecedented Actions) Initiatives are largely being churned out without proper review and the strategy could backfire. David Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown University and a former official at the Federal Trade Commission, told Politico. “A government by edict is not a sustainable idea.” |
| 2017.01.27 | Berlin mayor warns Trump: Mexico wall will destroy lives bbc.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.01.28 | After Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted his support for Trump's border wall. Mexico issued a statement expressing, "its profound astonishment, rejection and disappointment over Prime Minister Netanyahu's message on Twitter about the construction of a border wall." reuters.com (See also Israel) Mexico's government rebuked Israel on Saturday for a tweet by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that appeared to applaud U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to build a border wall with Mexico to keep o… |
| 2017.02.03 | Trump's plan to build a wall on the border with Mexico is facing a major problem: resistance from his own party. cnn.com (See also First 100 Days, Mexico) |
| 2017.02.07 | Homeland Security secretary says a border wall won't be built all at once. latimes.com (See also First 100 Days, Department of Homeland Security) |
| 2017.02.09 | Jared Kushner proves to be a shadow diplomat on U.S.-Mexico talks regarding NAFTA and border wall negotiations. washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days, Jared Kushner, Mexico, NAFTA) |
| 2017.02.10 | Trump’s “wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border would be a series of fences and walls that would cost as much as $21.6 billion, and take more than three years to construct according to Homeland Security internal report. in.reuters.com (See also First 100 Days, Department of Homeland Security) |
| 2017.02.12 | Mexicans march to protest Trump — but also their own leaders and politicians washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days, Mexico) |
| 2017.02.22 | Paul Ryan leads a delegation of House Republicans on a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border to see firsthand the security challenges of keeping out undocumented immigrants that Trump wants to block with a costly wall. washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.02.22 | Rex W. Tillerson arrives in Mexico with twin threats hanging over the frayed relationship between the two nations: Trump’s new orders to round up and deport immigrants who are in the United States illegally, and a separate effort to examine American aid to Mexico for possible use in paying for a border wall. nytimes.com (See also Rex Tillerson, Department of State, First 100 Days, Mexico, Immigration) |
| 2017.02.24 | Trump administration solicits ideas from contractors on how to build its promised wall between the U.S. and Mexico, a first tangible step toward delivering on the president’s signature campaign promise to curb unauthorized immigration. bloomberg.com (See also First 100 Days, Immigration) |
| 2017.03.03 | Mexican congressman sends President Trump a message after apparently climbing a 30-foot fence at the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday. “I was able to scale it, climb it, and sit myself right here. It would be simple for me to jump into the United States, which shows that it is unnecessary and totally absurd to build a wall." news.vice.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.03.07 | Trump administration weighs cuts to the Coast Guard, the TSA, and other agencies to pay for a Mexico border wall. washingtonpost.com The Federal Emergency Management Agency also could see significant cuts under an OMB proposal. |
| 2017.03.09 | Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell says Mexico will not pay for Trump's border wall. yahoo.com |
| 2017.03.15 | Trump’s promise to build a fortified barrier on the U.S.-Mexico border is about to hit a wall of its own: top Republicans in Congress with different ideas on how to curb illegal immigration. bloomberg.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.06.22 | Trump claimed Mexico is the second deadliest country in the world. It's not. buzzfeed.com (See also Mexico, Unpresidential Behavior, False Statements) |
| 2017.07.27 | The House has passed a $788 billion spending bill that combines a $1.6 billion down payment for Trump’s controversial border wall with Mexico with a whopping budget increase for the Pentagon, but significant hurdles remain in front of the measure, which will meet with more powerful Democratic opposition in the Senate. apnews.com (See also Department of Defense) |
| 2017.08.03 | The Washington Post on Thursday published transcripts of Trump’s January phone calls with the leaders of Mexico and Australia — and they include plenty of bizarre, surreal, and stunning moments. buzzfeed.com (See also Foreign Policy, Mexico, Unpresidential Behavior, False Statements) |
| 2017.08.03 | Trump made building a wall along the southern U.S. border and forcing Mexico to pay for it core pledges of his campaign, but as transcripts of his first White House call with Mexico’s president reveal, Trump described his vow to charge Mexico as a growing political problem, pressuring the Mexican leader to stop saying publicly that his government would never pay. washingtonpost.com (See also Foreign Policy, Mexico) |
| 2017.08.23 | Trump at a campaign-style rally in Phoenix promised he would shut down the government if Congress does not fund a wall on the southern border. nytimes.com (See also Immigration, Unprecedented Actions) |
| 2017.08.24 | The White House reiterated its willingness to risk shutting down the government to obtain funding for Donald Trump's long-promised wall between the United States and Mexico. nbcnews.com (See also Assaults on Government, Immigration) |
| 2017.08.30 | Donald Trump is promising billions to help Texas rebuild from Harvey-caused epic flooding, but his Republican allies in the House are looking at cutting almost $1 billion from disaster accounts to help finance the border wall. apnews.com (See also Federal Departments, Environment) |
| 2017.09.14 | Donald Trump confirmed that he supports legislation that would protect young undocumented immigrants from deportation and would deliver a “massive” increase in border security — but not with a wall on the southern border. nytimes.com (See also Immigrants, Immigration) |
| 2017.10.06 | The House Homeland Security Committee approved Wednesday a border security bill that includes $10 billion for a border wall. thehill.com (See also Immigration) |
| 2017.10.13 | Donald Trump remains determined to build his long-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, so much so that a top administration official said he’s willing to shut down the government to secure funding for the project. mic.com (See also Assaults on Government) |
| 2017.11.30 | Donald Trump has told confidants that a government shutdown could be good for him politically. washingtonpost.com (See also Unpresidential Behavior, Immigration) |
| 2017.12.18 | Donald Trump is removing climate change from the United States' National Security Strategy. futurism.com (See also Department of Homeland Security, Climate Change, Environment) |
| 2018.01.08 | The Trump administration would cut or delay funding for border surveillance, radar technology, patrol boats and customs agents in its upcoming spending plan to curb illegal immigration — all proven security measures that officials and experts have said are more effective than building a wall along the Mexican border. nytimes.com (See also Department of Homeland Security, Immigration) |
| 2018.01.17 | White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly told Democratic lawmakers Wednesday that the United States will never construct a physical wall along the entire stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border and that some of President Trump’s campaign promises on immigration were “uninformed.” washingtonpost.com (See also John Kelly, Immigration) |
| 2018.01.22 | The Trump administration is waiving dozens of environmental regulations to speed up construction of Donald Trump’s proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. thehill.com (See also Environment, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration) The waiver excludes rules from major laws including the National Environment Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Historic Preservation Act and the Antiquities Act, among others. |
| 2018.01.28 | Lawmakers in both parties said that the immigration debate should focus narrowly on efforts to legalize young immigrants known as “dreamers” and beef up border security, suggesting that Donald Trump’s demands to slash legal immigration levels are likely to sink a deal. washingtonpost.com (See also Immigration) |
| 2018.02.24 | Tentative plans for Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to make his first visit to the White House to meet with Donald Trump were scuttled this week after a testy call between the two leaders ended in an impasse over Trump’s promised border wall, according to U.S. and Mexican officials. washingtonpost.com (See also Immigration, Mexico) |
| 2018.03.29 | Donald Trump repeated a false claim that the border wall has started construction by posting pictures from a 2009 project which was designed to replace a 2.25 mile section in the existing California-Mexico wall. buzzfeed.com (See also False Statements, Unpresidential Behavior, Immigration) |
| 2018.11.26 | U.S. authorities closed off the busiest port of entry along the U.S. border with Mexico and fired tear gas at members of a Central American migrant caravan, including mothers and children choking on tear gas, representing a serious escalation of the crisis. washingtonpost.com (See also Immigration, Racism) Authorities say that about 100,000 people legally pass through the San Ysidro border crossing every day. |
Assessments
Peter Andreas — The Washington Post
On Jan. 26, 2017, Andreas notes that Trump probably will build his wall because most of it is already built.
Trump has dismissed the current state of border security as “a joke,” but he’ll soon find that the bipartisan border policing boom started in the 1990s will be crucial to keeping his wall pledge. Trump’s plan calls for a wall that covers 1,000 miles of the nearly 2,000-mile-long border — with natural obstacles covering the remainder. Nearly 700 miles of various types of border fencing are already in place, and portions of it very much look like a formidable metal wall. It is hard to imagine Trump tearing all that fencing up and starting from scratch.
What’s much more realistic is that Trump will simply add more miles of fencing; reinforce existing fencing in key, visible places; and deploy even more border guards, stadium lighting, and the latest high-tech detection and surveillance equipment.
Seth Stodder — Politico
In his Jan. 25, 2017, article, Stodder posits that Trump's wall attacks the wrong immigration crisis.
...according to the Pew Research Center, more Mexicans now leave the U.S. than head north, and border apprehensions are down a whopping 75 percent since 2000. Simply put, fewer people are coming, and our border authorities catch and remove most who try.
This is not to say there isn’t a crisis, however. There is one, but it’s different from the one Trump thinks exists. It doesn’t involve Mexican migrants, and a wall won’t solve it. The actual crisis involves thousands of migrants from Central America’s “Northern Triangle” — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — who are fleeing brutal gang violence, extreme poverty or malnutrition. Roughly half of these migrants are women and young children escaping desperate circumstances, facing the real possibility of death or rape if they stay. Others are fleeing extreme poverty in remote regions where education ends at the sixth grade and families are limited to one meal a day.
America obviously cannot solve all the economic problems of Central America, but under U.S. and international law, all migrants are afforded the opportunity to apply for asylum protection if they make it to U.S. soil.
Further research
- Peter Andreas, Border Games: Policing the U.S.-Mexico Divide