{"id":392719,"date":"2018-01-18T12:15:01","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T12:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=392719"},"modified":"2018-01-18T12:15:01","modified_gmt":"2018-01-18T12:15:01","slug":"trump-wall-presidents-view-mexico-border-changed-kelly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2018\/01\/trump-wall-presidents-view-mexico-border-changed-kelly\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump wall: President’s view on Mexico border has changed – Kelly"},"content":{"rendered":"
US President Donald Trump’s views on the Mexico border wall have evolved, says his chief of staff, John Kelly.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Fox News, Mr Kelly also did not deny reports that he had described the president as “uninformed” when he made campaign promises about a wall.<\/p>\n
The comments were overheard during an immigration meeting on Wednesday, according to US media.<\/p>\n
A row on immigration between lawmakers and the White House is currently risking a federal government shutdown.<\/p>\n
Why does the wall matter now?<\/strong><\/p>\n Congress faces a deadline of midnight on Friday to pass a stopgap measure that would fund federal agencies until next month.<\/p>\n Democrats want the bill to include protections for immigrants who entered the US illegally as children, known as “Dreamers”.<\/p>\n Republican President Trump has been fighting to scrap the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) programme.<\/p>\n However, he had signalled he was ready to make a deal to help the Dreamers, in return for funding for border-security plans, which include building a wall along the Mexican border.<\/p>\n How have the wall plans changed?<\/strong><\/p>\n Mr Kelly said the administration was now looking at creating a wall across 800 miles (1,300km) of the 3,100km stretch. He said this would include improving existing fences.<\/p>\n He said the estimated cost was $20bn (\u00a314bn; 16bn euros); Mr Trump had originally put the figure at $10-$12bn.<\/p>\n During his election campaign, Mr Trump had also insisted Mexico would pay for it in its entirety.<\/p>\n