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Thursday 26 January 2017

Mexico border wall: What is Donald Trump planning, how much will it cost and who will pay for it?

Donald Trump is setting out to fulfil one of his key campaign promises, with an executive order to build his proposed wall along the US-Mexico border.

To restrict illegal immigration, Mr Trump has promised to build a wall on the southern US border and to deport illegal migrants living inside the United States.
On his personal Twitter account on Tuesday, Mr Trump tweeted: "Big day planned on NATIONAL SECURITY tomorrow. Among many other things, we will build the wall!"

When did he propose building the wall?
Mr Trump's presidential campaign got off to an explosive start in June 2015 when he used incendiary language in announcing plans to build a wall along the border with Mexico .
"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best," he said. "They're sending people that have lots of problems. ... They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists."

Mr Trump pledged to build a huge wall along the border to keep migrants out . "I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words," he said.
The remarks drew a swift reaction from America's neighbour. "The remarks by Donald Trump seem prejudicial and absurd," Mexico's Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said.
Despite the outcry over the remarks, Mr Trump's proposal resonated with a large block of voters and it became a pillar of his presidential campaign. 
How long will it be?
The border with Mexico is roughly 1,900 miles long and spans fours state: California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. In comparison, the Berlin Wall was 96 miles while the Great Wall of China is 13,000 miles long. 
There is already roughly 700 miles of fence along the border - the remainder is either open, nearly impossible to actually build on or impassable.
Mr Trump said in 2015: "You know, the Great Wall of China, built a long time ago, is 13,000 miles. I mean, you're talking about big stuff. We're talking about peanuts, by comparison, to that."
Mr Trump has said his wall will cover 1,000 miles, with natural obstacles protecting the rest of the border.
How much will it cost?
Estimates vary hugely. In February last year, Mr Trump told MSNBC he could finish the wall for $8 billion. “Of the 2,000, we don’t need 2,000, we need 1,000 because we have natural barriers … and I’m taking it price per square foot and a price per square, you know, per mile,” he said .  
But most other estimates are far higher.
The existing border fence cost about $2.4 billion. Building the rest of it  would cost between $15 billion and $25 billion, with an annual maintenance cost of $700 million, according to an estimate by Marc Rosenblum, the deputy director of the US Immigration Policy Program at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, who is cited in a report in January last year.
"It's a lot more expensive than we expected when we started, and it was much more difficult," said Ronald Vitiello, deputy chief of border patrol for the US Customs and Border Protection, at a Senate Committee hearing in May 2015 .
Who will pay for it?
The Mexicans, according to Mr Trump. No chance, says Mexico.
During his campaign, Mr Trump boasted he would “make Mexico pay” for the wall by seizing remittances from undocumented immigrants from the country and increasing fees on entry visas to the US for Mexican citizens.
“It’s realistic if you know something about the art of negotiating. If you have a bunch of clowns negotiating, it’s not realistic,” he said.

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