President Donald Trump has been steadfast in his demands for a border wall, launching his campaign on a promise to build one and continually insisting from the White House that he will deliver on that pledge.
But Trump has been less consistent in explaining why the U.S. needs such a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
His evolving justifications are taking on new significance now that Trump is weighing whether to declare a national emergency in a controversial attempt to circumvent Congress and secure the billions of dollars that would be needed to build the barrier.
Trump, who has thrust the government into a partial shutdown with his wall demands, is taking his case to the American public with a prime-time televised address on Tuesday and a border visit on Thursday.
Here's a look back at how Trump has explained why the U.S. needs a "big, beautiful wall":
June 2015
Trump wasted no time pitching his wall, weaving it into his presidential run announcement at Trump Tower in New York.
During the speech, he set up the wall promise by taking a hard-line stance against Latino immigrants, labeling migrants coming from Mexico as “people that have lots of problems,” adding that they’re bringing “drugs” and “crimes,” and going so far as to call them “rapists.” He later added that they’re also coming from “South and Latin America” and “probably from the Middle East.”
“When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best,” he said. Because of that, he promised voters that he will “build a great wall” and “will have Mexico pay for that wall.”
Mexico later denounced Trump’s claim and multiple reports have been published that show undocumented immigrants, in addition to legal immigrants, are less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens.
September 2016
In a major immigration speech prior to the general election, Trump lamented that the U.S. doesn't know the scope of the illegal immigration problem and laid out a series of threats that he claimed immigrants posed.
Trump accused Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton of promising "uncontrolled, low-skilled immigration that continues to reduce jobs and wages for American workers, and especially for African-American and Hispanic workers within our country."
To combat that, Trump said the U.S. should build a wall.
"We will build a great wall along the southern border, and Mexico will pay for the wall," he said. "They don't know it yet, but they're going to pay for it. And they're great people and great leaders but they're going to pay for the wall. On Day One, we will begin working on intangible, physical, tall, power, beautiful southern border wall."https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/08/trumps-evolving-reasons-border-wall-1088046
