Trump to sign executive order on Mexico border wall

US President Donald Trump has said a "big day" is planned on national security on Wednesday, including an announcement to build a wall on the border between the US and Mexico and restrict immigration from Muslim countries.

The President alluded to his expected actions on Twitter on Tuesday night, writing: "Big day planned on NATIONAL SECURITY tomorrow. Among many other things, we will build the wall!"

The tweet was initially issued with a spelling error as he said 'Amoung' rather than among. It was quickly deleted and reissued just moments later.

Trump will sign the executive order - directing federal funds to be focused on creating the structure - during an appearance at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday, a White House official told CNN.

He is also expected to sign several executive orders dealing with visas and immigrants. The move would target cities where local leaders refuse to hand over illegal immigrants for deportation.

Trump's orders were expected to involve restricting access to the United States for refugees and some visa holders from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, according to the reports.

Trump's first order will be to begin construction of the border wall, as well as take steps to repair existing areas of fencing along the frontier between the US and Mexico. The order will also include a mandate to increase staff at Customs and Border Protection by 5,000 and alleviate the flood of migrants fleeing violence in Central America, CNN reported.

A second order will work to eliminate so-called "sanctuary cities," where municipal governments refuse to hand over undocumented immigrants to federal authorities. That order will triple resources for Immigration and Custom Enforcement and direct the federal government to identify criminal aliens in the US.

Officials said Trump would wait until later in the week to take action on visas and refugees, potentially as early as Thursday, reported CNN.

An order being prepared for Trump's signature includes the drastic measure of suspending the entire refugee programme for four months in an attempt to gauge which country's migrants pose the least risk for US national security.

A programme for admitting Syrian refugees, who are fleeing civil war and a humanitarian crisis, would be stopped indefinitely.

The measure caps the total number of refugees admitted in the 2017 fiscal year at 50,000. And it directs the Pentagon and US State Department to plan "safe zones" inside Syria, which the previous administration rejected as unlikely to alleviate civilian suffering.

Trump launched his campaign on a hardline immigration policy, proposing to build a "great, great wall" along the US-Mexico border and later to institute a "complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" until the US government could properly vet people coming in.

--IANS

soni/bg