United States: Donald Trump in Texas to extol the border wall with Mexico
US President Donald Trump during his speech at the rally against the certification of Joe Biden's presidential victory by Congress on January 6, 2021 in Washington.
AP - Evan Vucci
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
As Democrats prepare to launch historic impeachment proceedings against the president, Donald Trump, more isolated than ever, goes to Texas this Tuesday, January 12 to extol his immigration policy and the construction of the border wall with Mexico .
Without doubt one of his last trips for a president who will be particularly scrutinized for his first public appearance after his speech last Wednesday in which he galvanized his supporters, hundreds of whom then attacked the Capitol.
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With his visit to Texas, Donald Trump is pursuing a double objective.
Faced with calls for his resignation, he shows his determination to stay in the White House until the end of his term on January 20.
Deprived for a few days of his favorite communication channel, namely
Twitter, which closed his account
, he will also take advantage of his trip to address his supporters directly.
"
He is not going to let go of the case and he will continue to claim that the election was stolen from him by some sort of fraud until the end of his life,"
says James Cohen, professor at Sorbonne Nouvelle University and specialist in immigration and border affairs in the United States, at the microphone of
Jelena Tomic,
of the International service of RFI.
He will try to create a militant base on the right or in the margins of the right of the Republican Party.
There are also senators and representatives who are still in office and who will also try to consolidate this extremist fringe of the Republican Party.
"
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To read also: United States: Republicans believe that Donald Trump has breathed new life into the party
A speech is scheduled for Tuesday at Fort Alamo to celebrate the construction of the 450th mile of this wall still under construction on the Mexican border, reports
Eric de Salve,
our special envoy to Harlingen in South Texas.
It was one of the flagship promises of his 2016 election campaign. A promise half-fulfilled.
Backdoor law
Contrary to what Donald Trump demanded at the time, Mexico never paid for the wall which cost American taxpayers around $ 18 million.
Most of the new sections of the wall only replaced or fortified existing portions.
Only 12 kilometers of new wall have been erected on virgin land.
“
He failed to get the funds he wanted from Congress,”
says Cohen.
He had to fight and twist the law a bit to make the military pay up to $ 10 billion perhaps.
Trump has always claimed that the wall is used to block immigrants and asylum seekers, and also to block drug trafficking.
But the reality is that most of the drugs that enter the United States in massive quantities are known to pass in vehicles that enter the country through the front door.
As for the migrants, what blocked them the most was Trump's policies that forced them to stay in Mexico.
Which is completely contrary to American law and international law.
"
With the departure of Donald Trump, the construction of the wall will also stop.
New President Joe Biden does not wish to continue this controversial project.
But the 500 kilometers of metal barrier already installed will not be demolished.
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To listen: Should we cut off politicians who are freeing themselves from reality?
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United States
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