President Donald Trump is readying several executive orders related to immigration and national security, including actions to build a wall along the Mexican border and to restrict the refugee program, according to several news reports.
Trump is expected to begin by signing an order on Wednesday to start the process of building a wall during a visit to the Department of Homeland Security, according to the New York Times. His order to start building the wall will also include provisions to increase staff at Customs and Border Protection and will require the Department of Homeland Security to make public how much aid it gives to Mexico, CNN reported.
CNN reported that Trump will also sign another executive order on Wednesday to get rid of “sanctuary cities,” to boost funding for Immigration and Custom Enforcement, and to “direct the federal government to identify criminal aliens in the US.”
Trump teased these orders in a Tuesday tweet.
Big day planned on NATIONAL SECURITY tomorrow. Among many other things, we will build the wall!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017
The Trump administration is also preparing additional orders to be signed at a later date that would restrict the United States’ refugee program, though the President is still finalizing the details of the orders, according to the Associated Press. Trump is expected to sign these orders on Thursday, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The order under consideration by Trump would suspend the United States’ entire refugee program for four months and also temporarily ban people from certain Muslim-majority countries, the AP reported. The Wall Street Journal reported that the order would ban people from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya from entering the U.S.
The Trump administration will also work on a new vetting program for visas that would “ban anyone who has persecuted people of other religions or engaged in so-called honor killing, violence against women or oppressed a member of one race, gender or sexual orientation,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal also reported that Trump would sign an order suspending the Syrian refugee program and prioritizing acceptance of those who are religious minorities in their country of origin. When the U.S. begins accepting refugees from Syria again, the Trump administration would cut the maximum number of Syrian refugees that can be accepted in half to 50,000, according to the Journal.
Trump is also reviewing orders that would keep the Guantanamo Bay prison open, label the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, and reopen CIA secret “black site” prisons, according to the New York Times.
