Trump to unveil Mexico border wall plans in security push

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump plans to unveil actions on national security starting on Wednesday that are expected to include steps towards building a wall on the Mexican border and limiting refugee inflows to the US, moving to fulfill key promises he made during his election campaign.
“Big day planned on national security. Among many other things, we will build the wall!” the president wrote in a message on his personal Twitter feed.
The announcement on the border wall is expected during a Wednesday afternoon visit by the president to the Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency that has primary jurisdiction over securing the border and would carry out most of the other immigration-related steps that Trump talked about in his run for office.
The Mexican peso reversed early gains to drop to a session low against the US dollar after news of Trump’s plan emerged. One of the hallmarks of Trump’s presidential run was his pledge to build an impenetrable wall between the US and Mexico to keep out the people “taking our jobs” and to immediately round up and deport “criminal aliens.” He repeatedly said he will make the Mexican government pay for it, but may tap existing appropriations for border security at DHS to get the process started. Mexico’s government has rejected the notion that they will ever pay for the wall.
‘Divisive, Polarizing’
The border wall—and who will pay for it—is already drawing the ire of Democrats. “The bottom line here is this is another divisive policy and it’s another polarizing policy,” Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon said in an interview with CNN on Wednesday. “I think the American people are going to be able to see through this.”
Trump’s tweet presaged what’s expected to be broader moves in the coming days to curb immigration that would include limits on government programs to settle refugees in the US. The Trump administration is considering a 120-day suspension on refugee admissions and a reduction in the number of refugees allowed into the US this fiscal year to 50,000 from 110,000, according to a person familiar with the plan.
During his campaign, Trump warned that the US risked allowing extremists to slip into the country as part of the refugee program, pointing to terrorist attacks such as the killing of a French priest and a bombing at a German music festival, as evidence of the danger posed by refugees. He’s said Germany’s moves to admit hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict were a “disaster.”
Trump once proposed a temporary ban on all Muslim immigration to the US; after drawing bipartisan criticism, he subsequently proposed blocking immigration from countries with a “proven history” of terrorism. Other than Syria, he had not specified what countries would meet that definition during his campaign.
“We’re letting people come in from terrorist nations that shouldn’t be allowed,” Trump said at a campaign rally in September. “This could be the great Trojan horse of all time.”

Trump calls for ‘major investigation’
into alleged voter fraud

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump said he would request a major investigation into voter fraud during the 2016 election, which he won in the Electoral College despite losing the popular vote by almost 3 million votes.
“I will be asking for a major investigation into voter fraud, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time),” Trump said in a pair of Twitter posts on Wednesday. “Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!”
Trump has repeatedly made the unsubstantiated claim that the 2016 election was tainted by massive voter fraud. He has not provided any credible evidence to back up the claim.
Trump’s pledge to call for an investigation comes after the president told members of Congress on Monday at a private reception that he believes he lost the popular vote in his election because millions of undocumented immigrants cast votes for his opponent, his press secretary said on Tuesday.