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Agencies

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order designed to start fulfilling his campaign pledge to build a wall along the US border with Mexico.

The directives ordered the construction of a multibillion-dollar wall along the roughly 3,200-km US-Mexico border, moved to strip federal funding from “sanctuary” states and cities that harbour illegal immigrants.

Trump’s plans prompted an outcry from immigrant advocates and Democratic lawmakers who said the president was jeopardising the rights and freedoms of millions of people while treating Mexico as an enemy, not an ally.

The immigration crackdown has sparked fear among so-called “dreamers,” whose parents brought them to the US illegally and who received temporary deportation relief and work permits from former President Barack Obama.

The plan has infuriated Mexicans and President Enrique Pena Nieto said that he “regrets and disapproves” of the push by Trump to build a new wall along the border.

The cost, nature and extent of the wall remain unclear. Trump also ordered a survey of the border to be completed within 180 days. He promised to make Mexico pay for the wall, something the Mexican government has repeatedly said it will not do.

Trump cannot just do as he pleases with the land along the border because much of it is privately owned. So building a wall would entail messy legal proceedings and substantial expropriation payments.

The Rio Grande River forms the natural border between Mexico and Texas. Laws prohibit construction that would impede flood management. And a treaty bars either country from diverting any flow of water.

Estimates prepared a decade ago put costs at $6.5 million a kilometre for pedestrian fencing and $1.8 million per kilometre for vehicular blockades. An actual wall constructed of concrete or brick would be more costly and difficult.

Critics say the wall proposal is pointless because, among other things, most drugs smuggled into the US pass through legal entry points and are not transported through the desert.



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Donald Trump

In pictures: Trump goes ahead with Mexico wall construction

A demonstrator writes on symbolic wall as is seen a pinata representing the US President Donald Trump during a protest in Mexico City. Photo: Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump displays one of the executive orders he signed during a visit to the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Trump signed executive orders related to domestic security and to begin the process of building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool/Sipa USA/TNS)

A sign stands on a private property near the U.S.-Mexico border fence near Jacumba, California, U.S., November 14, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake SEARCH "WILD HORSE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

FILE - In this March 2, 2016 file photo, two people walk towards metal bars marking the United States border where it meets the Pacific Ocean in Tijuana, Mexico. U.S. President Donald Trump will direct the Homeland Security Department to start building a wall at the Mexican border. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, file)

FILE - In this June 22, 2016 file photo, Border Patrol agent Eduardo Olmos walks near the secondary fence separating Tijuana, Mexico, background, and San Diego in San Diego. U.S. President Donald Trump will direct the Homeland Security Department to start building a wall at the Mexican border. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, file)

Workers continue work raising a taller fence in the Mexico-US border area separating the towns of Anapra, Mexico and Sunland Park, New Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017. U.S. President Donald Trump says his administration will be working in partnership in Mexico to improve safety and economic opportunity for both countries and will have "close coordination" with Mexico to address drug smuggling. It will set in motion the construction of his proposed border wall, a key promise from his 2016 campaign. (AP Photo/Christian Torres)

(170126) -- MEXICO CITY, Jan. 26, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Image provided by Mexico's Presidency shows Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto preparing to deliver a speech in Mexico City, capital of Mexico, on Jan. 25, 2017. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said Wednesday that his country rejects the U.S. decision to build a border wall and "will not pay for any wall." (Xinhua/Mexico's Presidency) (da) (fnc)(yy)

View of the border line between Mexico and the U.S in the community of Sasabe in Sonora state, Mexico, on January 13, 2017. Hundreds of Central American and Mexican migrants attempt to cross the US border daily. / AFP PHOTO / ALFREDO ESTRELLA

Eleasar Yedo Sanchez (R) of Mexico and Javier Amador (L) of Honduras swim illegally across the Rio Grande river, the border between Mexico and the United States, in Nuevo Loredo May 1, 2006. Illegal immigrants flood across the Mexican border at a rate of half a million a year. A one-day nationwide strike and business boycott got underway on Monday to demand rights for illegal immigrants, with many U.S. businesses shutting down voluntarily to avoid disruption. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

(FILES) This file photo taken on November 19, 2016 shows Border Patrol agents patroling the United States-Mexico Border wall during Opening the Door Of Hope/Abriendo La Puerta De La Esparana at Friendship Park in San Ysidro, California on November 19, 2016. President Donald Trump on January 25, 2017 ordered work to begin on planning and building a wall on the Mexican border, sounding a hardline tone on immigration as he moved to fulfill a key campaign pledge. / AFP PHOTO / Sandy Huffaker

(170126) -- CHIHUAHUA, Jan. 26, 2017 (Xinhua) -- File photo taken on Feb. 15, 2016 shows children watching at the border between Mexico and the United States in Anapra, Chihuahua state, Mexico. On Jan. 25, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order for the wall to be built, but Center for Latin American Monetary Studies (CEMLA) estimated that migration from Mexico has been slowing down since 2008 after growing from 1990 to its peak in 2007. (Xinhua/Guillermo Arias) (da) (fnc)(yy)

Trump signs orders to build wall on US-Mexico border and curb immigration

Order risks inflaming already testy ties between the US and Mexico

An undocumented immigrant from Guatemala waits for his turn for a phone call after arriving to Announciation House, an organisation that provides shelter to immigrants and refugees, in El Paso, U.S. January 17, 2017. Picture taken January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo

FILE PHOTO - A volunteer contacts the relatives of an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala after arriving to Announciation House, an organisation that provides shelter to immigrants and refugees, in El Paso, U.S. January 17, 2017. Picture taken January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo /File Photo

In this Dec. 22, 2016 photo, Mexican youth who migrated to the U.S. as children gather before starting a group therapy session, on their first day back to their native country, in Mexico City. In the weeks just before President-elect Donald Trump was sworn in, more than two dozen young immigrants made the journey back to Mexico under a provision of DACA that allows recipients to leave the U.S. for academic reasons or family emergencies and then legally return. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

A US Customs and Border Agent stands at a post along the United States-Mexico Border at Friendship Park in San Ysidro, California. US President Donald Trump will take a first step toward fulfilling his pledge to "build a wall" on the Mexican border as he rolls out a series of immigration-related decrees. Photo: AFP

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United States & Canada

Donald Trump orders the construction of a multibillion-dollar wall along the roughly 3,200-km US-Mexico border, prompting an outcry from immigrant advocates and Democratic lawmakers.
