By Rebecca Colnes
Correspondent
President Donald Trump enacted Executive Order 13767 on Jan. 25, which calls for a wall to be built between Mexico and the United States.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto responded by saying that Mexico will not pay for the wall, CNN reported.
"It is evident that we have some differences with the new government of the United States, like the topic of the wall, that Mexico, of course, will not pay," Nieto said, according to CNN.
Trump and Nieto were supposed to meet in person, but mutually decided to cancel the meeting. Trump stated he will still begin the construction of the wall and deal with the negotiations at a later date, according to CNN.
CNN also reported that Trump has also threatened a Mexican border tax.
Nevertheless, Nieto would reportedly continue to request peaceful relations with the U.S and has offered other issues that the countries can cooperate on, CNN reported.
During Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, one of his biggest promises was to create this wall to deter illegal immigration and disrupt violent cartel networks, according to The New York Times.
The wall is supposed to be an “impassable physical barrier” about 2,000 miles long, according to BBC.
The same source reported that Trump estimated the cost of this wall to be about $8 billion.
The Bernstein Research group conducted a research study and estimated the cost to be between $15 and $25 billion, according to USA Today.
Congress has agreed to put forth $15 billion for the production of the wall, USA Today reported.
When the wall was first introduced, Republicans were not backing Donald Trump, according to CNN. Today, however, more Republicans and GOP leaders have sided with Trump, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, CNN reported.
When asked what shifted Republican views, Secretary of North Carolina and Republican Mark Meadows said, “November 8th,” according to CNN.
In addition to the creation of the wall, Trump would also like to create more detention centers, add thousands of border patrol agents and withhold federal funds from sanctuary cities, according to the Washington Post.
The president expects to have an additional 5,000 border patrol agents and 10,000 immigration officials, the Washington Post reported.
Trump’s actions are different from the approach to immigration former President Barack Obama took during his two terms as president.
Obama pushed more for paths to citizenship as opposed to keeping immigrants out, according to The New York Times.
Many protests against the creation of the Mexican border wall have occurred, according to Time. There have also been demonstrations outside the U.S Embassy in Mexico City, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, one speaker at the Embassy Protest stated, “We are going to defend our land. We are not going to let you impose your politics of misery on our country.”
