Wrap-up: Mexican wall, torture and visas

Mexico boundary wall
President Donald Trump directed the Homeland Security Department to start building a wall at the Mexican border. Trump has angered Mexicans, perplexed economists and energised his nationalist political base by vowing to build a wall along the US frontier — and then somehow make Mexico pay for it. Mexico’s leaders have repeatedly said their country will never pay for the 3,200-km border barrier that Trump says is needed to stop illegal immigrants and drug smugglers from coming over. However,  a day after Mexico President Pena Nieto cancelled a trip to Washington, the two leaders held a phone conversation.

Torture Works
Donald Trump believes torture “works”. “We have to fight fire with fire,” Mr Trump told in an interview. The draft order would reverse President Barack Obama’s order to close the military detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Critics said the clandestine site marred America’s image on the world stage, and Mr Trump is planning to issue an executive order reauthorising the use of torture by the CIA and reopening notorious ‘black site’ prisons to carry out torture.

Visa restrictions:
President Trump has also ordered “extreme vetting” of people entering the US from seven Muslim-majority countries and banned the entry of Syrian refugees until further notice, as part of new measures to “keep radical Islamic terrorists” out of America. “I am establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America. We don't want them here,” Mr Trump said after signing an executive order at the Pentagon. The executive order “Protection of The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States” notes that the steps taken by the US in the aftermath of 9/11 have not been able to deter terrorists from entering the country. The countries impacted are Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia, according to a White House official.

Alternative facts or fiction?
Last week, readers grappled with Trump administration’s defence of “alternative facts”. White House official, Kellyanne Conway had used the term “alternative facts” on NBC’s  ‘Meet the Press’ during a discussion about the size of the crowd at Trump’s inauguration. Spokesman for the Trump administration Sean Spicer had said: “No one had numbers... This was the largest audience...” When journalists questioned Conway as to why Mr Trump had directed “spokesman for the Trump administration to come out in front of the podium for the first time and utter a falsehood”, Mr Spicer, she explained, was merely presenting “alternative facts”. Critics denounced her expression as “Orwellian”.