Trump moves to build border wall, cut sanctuary city funds

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump moved aggressively to tighten the nation's immigration policies today, signing executive actions to jump start construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall and block federal grants from immigrant-protecting "sanctuary cities."

"We've been talking about this right from the beginning," Trump said during a brief signing ceremony at the Department of Homeland Security.

As of this afternoon, the White House had not circulated copies of the documents or briefed reporters on the details, as has been typical practice in past administrations. But Trump cast his actions as fulfillment of his campaign pledge to enact hard-line immigration measures, including construction of a wall paid for by Mexico. U.S. taxpayers are expected to pay for the upfront costs, though Trump continues to assert that Mexico will reimburse the money through unspecified means.

In an interview with ABC News earlier today, Trump said, "There will be a payment; it will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form."

While Trump has repeatedly said the border structure will be a wall, his spokesman Sean Spicer said more generally today the president was ordering construction of a "large physical barrier."

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has insisted his country will not pay for a wall, is to meet with Trump at the White House next week.

The orders Trump signed also increase the number of border patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to be hired. And the president ordered the end of what Republicans have labeled a catch-and-release system at the border. Currently, some immigrants caught crossing the border illegally are released and given notices to report back to immigration officials at a later date.