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Trump Tells Aides ‘Take the Land’ as Impatience Grows on Border Wall Trump Tells Aides ‘Take the Land’ as Impatience Grows on Border Wall
(about 4 hours later)
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s signature campaign promise to build a wall along the southwestern border is far behind schedule. So he has told his aides to get the job done by whatever means necessary, including by seizing land on the Mexican frontier.WASHINGTON — President Trump’s signature campaign promise to build a wall along the southwestern border is far behind schedule. So he has told his aides to get the job done by whatever means necessary, including by seizing land on the Mexican frontier.
The president has repeatedly suggested during meetings on immigration policy that aides “take the land” and “get it done,” according to a person who has heard him say it. The Washington Post first reported that Mr. Trump had brought up the land seizures, and had floated the idea of offering pardons to aides willing to break the law, a suggestion he has made before when exploring ways to fulfill his campaign promises. The president has repeatedly suggested during meetings on immigration policy that aides “take the land” and “get it done,” according to a person who has heard him say it. The Washington Post first reported that Mr. Trump had brought up the land seizures and had floated the idea of offering pardons to aides willing to break the law, a suggestion he has made previously when exploring ways to fulfill his campaign promises.
On Wednesday, a senior administration official did not deny that Mr. Trump had made the comments but said that the president had been joking — “he winks when he does it,” that person said — and added that Mr. Trump had never seriously suggested the idea of pardons. But the president has dangled pardons before — to aides and confidants caught up in Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation and to officials pressing his hard-line immigration policies. On Wednesday, a senior administration official insisted that Mr. Trump had never seriously raised pardons or asked anyone to break the law. The president had been joking, the official said — “he winks when he does it.” And Mr. Trump said on Twitter later Wednesday that news coverage of his offering of a pardon was false.
Now, as he faces a jittery stock market, battles the Federal Reserve over interest rates, and refuses to back down from his trade war with China, Mr. Trump is impatient to showcase a success story to his supporters ahead of the 2020 election. But he has publicly talked up the government’s ability to seize land for infrastructure purposes, and he has dangled pardons before — to aides and confidants caught up in Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation and to officials pressing his hard-line immigration policies.
Inside the White House, his aides say the president is doing what he can to deliver on the promise, and quickly. In a statement, Hogan Gidley, a deputy White House spokesman, said that the account amounted to “more false fabrications by people who hate the fact the status quo, that has crippled this country for decades, is finally changing as President Trump is moving quicker than anyone in history to build the wall, secure the border, and enact the very immigration policies the American people voted for.” Now, as he faces a jittery stock market, battles the Federal Reserve over interest rates and refuses to back down from his trade war with China, Mr. Trump is impatient to showcase a success story to his supporters ahead of the 2020 election.
Inside the White House, the president’s aides say he is doing what he can to deliver on the promise, and quickly. In a statement, Hogan Gidley, a deputy White House spokesman, said that the account amounted to “more false fabrications by people who hate the fact the status quo, that has crippled this country for decades, is finally changing as President Trump is moving quicker than anyone in history to build the wall, secure the border, and enact the very immigration policies the American people voted for.”
But what White House officials have walked back as lighthearted suggestions in the past have proved true. In April, Mr. Trump asked Kevin K. McAleenan, the acting secretary of homeland security, to close the southwestern border to migrants, suggesting he could issue a pardon if he encountered any legal trouble. At the time, White House officials said the president might have been joking.But what White House officials have walked back as lighthearted suggestions in the past have proved true. In April, Mr. Trump asked Kevin K. McAleenan, the acting secretary of homeland security, to close the southwestern border to migrants, suggesting he could issue a pardon if he encountered any legal trouble. At the time, White House officials said the president might have been joking.
Since his candidacy, Mr. Trump has been deeply engaged on the topic of the border wall, both because it was easy for him to remember in campaign speeches and because he enjoyed how the concept excited his supporters at rallies. Since his candidacy, Mr. Trump has been deeply engaged on the topic of the border wall, both because it was easy for him to remember in campaign speeches and because he enjoyed how the concept excited his supporters at rallies. He has also repeatedly defended getting the task accomplished through land seizures known as declarations of eminent domain, a concept that has rattled people living or working on land eyed for potential border wall building.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly weighed in with his own thoughts on how the wall should look or what features it should have, publicly suggesting at least once that the border wall should have spikes to deter migrants from climbing the structure. “Eminent domain is very interesting,” Mr. Trump said in a speech in January in the Rose Garden. “But without eminent domain, you wouldn’t have any highways, you wouldn’t have any schools, you wouldn’t have any roadways. What we’re doing with eminent domain is, in many cases, we’ll make a deal upfront.”
On Wednesday, a senior administration official said that the president had ordered the border wall to be painted black because it would be too hot for people to climb in the daytime, and easier for border patrol agents to see through at nighttime. Opponents of the border wall are taking the president’s promises seriously as new fencing appears in the Sonoran Desert. Kristy Parker, a lawyer with Protect Democracy, a nonprofit, is suing the Trump administration over its emergency declaration to build the wall.
But the administration’s claims that a border wall is rapidly appearing are overblown. Despite promising to complete 500 miles of border wall in his first term, the Army Corps of Engineers and private contractors have constructed just 60 miles of vehicle barriers or replacement fencing where existing impediments had been damaged, according to a Customs and Border Protection document. “We keep hearing from him; I think it’s really time to start believing him,” said Ms. Parker, whose nonprofit will argue the case on Thursday in a United States District Court in El Paso. “He has proclaimed repeatedly that he has vast powers that nobody understands, and he can do whatever he wants as the president. I think this is another showing he’s really serious about it.”
The Trump administration has not constructed any new extension of the barriers, despite the extreme lengths that the president has gone to in hopes of delivering on his signature campaign promise. In February, Mr. Trump declared a national emergency to access billions of dollars for wall construction that Congress had refused to give him. The president gained a victory last month when the Supreme Court allowed the administration to use $2.5 billion in Defense Department money for the construction of the wall at the southwest border as lower courts considered legal actions to stop it. Mr. Trump has not been shy about asserting extraordinary presidential powers. He has repeatedly weighed in with his own thoughts on how the wall should look and what features it should have, publicly suggesting at least once that the wall should have spikes to deter migrants from climbing it. On Wednesday, a senior administration official said that the president had ordered the border wall to be painted black because it would be too hot for people to climb during the day and easier for Border Patrol agents to see through at night.
The administration began using that funding last week to construct an additional 124 miles of barriers, according to the Customs and Border Protection document. Conservation groups have mounted several legal challenges against the administration, which they have accused of waiving environmental and public health laws to fulfill the president’s promise. Last week, construction on a replacement portion of the wall began in Arizona, with crews beginning work through two miles of the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. But the administration’s claims that a border wall is rapidly appearing are overblown. Despite Mr. Trump’s promising to complete 500 miles of wall in his first term, the Army Corps of Engineers and private contractors have constructed only 60 miles of vehicle barriers or replacement fencing where existing impediments had been damaged, according to a Customs and Border Protection document.
“It’s astonishing and sad to see Trump’s border wall being built through the most spectacular Sonoran desert ecosystem on the planet,” Laiken Jordahl, the borderlands campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity, told The Associated Press. The Trump administration has not constructed any new extension of the barriers, despite the extreme lengths that the president has gone to in hopes of delivering on his signature campaign promise.
For their part, Democrats in Washington have targeted the administration’s efforts to transfer more resources to the southwestern border. On Tuesday, they assailed the Department of Homeland Security for transferring more than $150 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief fund to pay for temporary immigration courts at the southwest border. In February, Mr. Trump declared a national emergency to get access to billions of dollars for wall construction that Congress had refused to give him. He gained a victory last month when the Supreme Court allowed the administration to use $2.5 billion in Defense Department money for the construction of the wall at the southwestern border as lower courts considered legal actions to stop it.
The administration began using that funding last week to start work on an additional 124 miles of barriers, according to the Customs and Border Protection document, as well as on a replacement portion of the wall in Arizona, where crews started work on two miles of the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Conservation groups have mounted several legal challenges against the administration, which they have accused of waiving environmental and public health laws to fulfill the president’s promise.
“It’s astonishing and sad to see Trump’s border wall being built through the most spectacular Sonoran desert ecosystem on the planet,” Laiken Jordahl, the borderlands campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity, told The Associated Press. On Tuesday, he tweeted photographs that showed construction crews putting steel panels up on the land.
Mr. Jordahl’s negative tone contrasted sharply with a triumphant video tweeted by the president on Wednesday that featured footage of a row of paneled border barriers.
“The Wall is going up very fast despite total Obstruction by Democrats in Congress, and elsewhere!” Mr. Trump wrote.
For their part, Democrats in Washington have targeted the administration’s efforts to transfer more resources to the southwestern border. On Tuesday, they assailed the Department of Homeland Security for transferring more than $150 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief fund to pay for temporary immigration courts at the border. Last September, the administration moved nearly $10 million in FEMA funds to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to pay for detention and removal operations.
“Stealing from appropriated funds is always unacceptable, but to pick the pockets of disaster relief funding in order to fund an appalling, inhumane family incarceration plan is staggering,” Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, said in a statement, “and to do so on the eve of hurricane season is stunningly reckless.”“Stealing from appropriated funds is always unacceptable, but to pick the pockets of disaster relief funding in order to fund an appalling, inhumane family incarceration plan is staggering,” Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, said in a statement, “and to do so on the eve of hurricane season is stunningly reckless.”