Trump set to clamp down on immigrant 'sanctuary cities'

President Trump plans to sign a series of immigration-related executive actions Wednesday, including efforts to build a wall on the Mexican border and to clamp down on "sanctuary cities," White House aides said.

A pair of executive orders call for cutting off federal funding for those cities that willingly become havens for migrants in the country illegally, as well as expansion of detention space for migrants who have been caught and being shipped back to their home countries, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

The signing ceremony will come during Trump's visit to the Department of Homeland Security headquarters in Washington.

Trump previewed the action in a tweet Tuesday night, saying, "Among many other things, we will build the wall!" A senior administration official confirmed the specific actions on condition of anonymity because Trump had not yet signed them.

In an interview with ABC News, Trump claimed that construction of the wall will begin in "in months," and that the United States will soon commence talks with Mexico over his demand that it pay for the structure — a demand the Mexican government has consistently rejected.

"We'll be reimbursed at a later date from whatever transaction we make from Mexico," Trump told ABC in his first television interview as president. "I'm just telling you there will be a payment. It will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form."

Trump is scheduled to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Jan. 31.

Wednesday's moves will be the first of what are likely to be many executive actions to roll back President Barack Obama's immigration policies, with more orders expected on refugees and status of people who immigrated to the United States as children.

"His priority is first and foremost focused on people who pose a threat to people in our country, to criminals, frankly," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday. But on childhood arrivals, he said, Trump is "continuing to make sure that his Cabinet level team starts to organize and create a plan to move forward with respect to that issue."

USA Today