US President Donald Trump (above) is expected to sign several executive orders this week to jumpstart construction of a border fence and to restrict immigration from Syria and six other countries

President Donald Trump will start rolling out executive actions on immigration Wednesday - beginning with an order to start building his wall along the border with Mexico.

The president is also expected to take action over the next few days to temporarily ban immigration from Muslim countries deemed a 'threat to national security' - namely Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, and Somalia.

In addition, Trump is set to sign other domestic immigration enforcement measures that will include targeting sanctuary cities that decline to prosecute undocumented aliens.

Another key policy shift being discussed is whether to scrap rules protecting hundreds of thousands of children of illegal immigrants from deportation.

In total over the next few days, Trump is expected to:

Direct federal funds toward the construction of a wall along the southern border

Target so-called 'sanctuary' cities that decline to prosecute undocumented aliens

Measures still being finalized and subject to change include:

A four-month freeze on admission of all refugees

Grant exceptions to Christians and other minorities fleeing Muslim persecution

Halt visas to people from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen because the Muslim-majority countries are 'terror prone'

The visa bans would last at least 30 days while vetting processes are reviewed

Stop protecting illegal immigrants who arrived in the US as children from deportation

The Donald will get started with an executive order authorizing the wall on Wednesday, while the immigration bans are still being finalized and could come later in the week.

Trump is also expected to sign an order pertaining to his promised wall along the United States' southern border with Mexico. Above is a tweet put out by Trump on Tuesday

The president posted a tweet on Tuesday evening signaling that major announcements were in the offing.

'Big day planned on NATIONAL SECURITY tomorrow,' Trump tweeted. 'Among many other things, we will build the wall!'

The new Trump directives are expected to stop most refugees including those from Syria coming to America while vetting processes are reviewed. This could last for four months, or an indefinite amount of time.

The one exception is religious minorities fleeing persecution - which would apply to Christians fleeing Syria and other Muslim majority countries, according to several congressional aides and immigration experts briefed on the matter.

The proposed plans also temporary visa ban on all people entering from some Muslim majority countries that pose a perceived terror risk - Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Somalia and Sudan. This would last at least 30 days.

In addition the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) - which has shielded illegal immigrant children from deportation by granting them work permits - could be axed after Trump vowed to do so during his campaign, according to the Washington Post.

RECORD NUMBER OF MUSLIM REFUGEES FLED TO THE US IN 2016 The US government permitted 38,901 Muslim refugees to enter the country in 2016, nearly half of the total number of refugees it permitted into its borders, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. The figure represents the highest number of Muslim refugees that have been permitted into the US since data on religious affiliation became publicly available in 2002. It followed increasing escalation in Syria's bloody civil war, as well as continued instability in Iraq and Afghanistan and the collapse of Libya's government. The US allowed nearly the same number of Christians into the country – 37,521. Fiscal 2016, which ended on September 30, was the first time in 10 years that the US admitted more Muslims than Christians. The majority of the Muslim refugees who entered the US last year were from Syria (12,486) and Somalia (9,012). The rest came from Iraq (7,853), Burma (3,145) - where Muslims are harshly discriminated against - Afghanistan (2,664), and other countries. The Obama administration aimed to absorb 10,000 Syrian refugees. Instead, it exceeded the goal by 2,486. Advertisement

The Republican president was expected to sign the orders starting the wall and targeting sanctuary cities today at the Washington headquarters of the Department of Homeland Security, whose responsibilities include immigration and border security.

On the campaign trail, Trump initially proposed a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States to protect Americans from jihadist attacks.

Both Trump and his nominee for attorney general, U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions, have since said they would focus the restrictions on countries whose migrants could pose a threat, rather than placing a ban on people who follow a specific religion.

Many Trump supporters decried Democratic President Barack Obama's decision to increase the number of Syrian refugees admitted to the United States over fears that those fleeing the country's civil war would carry out attacks.

Detractors could launch legal challenges to the moves if all the countries subject to the ban are Muslim-majority nations, said immigration expert Hiroshi Motomura at UCLA School of Law. Legal arguments could claim the executive orders discriminate against a particular religion, which would be unconstitutional, he said.

"His comments during the campaign and a number of people on his team focused very much on religion as the target," Motomura said.

Stephen Legomsky, who was chief counsel at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Obama administration, said the president had the authority to limit refugee admissions and the issuance of visas to specific countries if the administration determined it was in the public’s interest.

'From a legal standpoint, it would be exactly within his legal rights,' said Legomsky, a professor at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. 'But from a policy standpoint, it would be terrible idea because there is such an urgent humanitarian need right now for refugees.'

To block entry from the designated countries, Trump is likely to instruct the US State Department to stop issuing visas to people from those nations, according to sources familiar with the visa process.

SYRIA From the outside looking in, Syria appears to be a hornet's nest of terrorist groups and non-state actors. A number of these organizations have been fighting the forces loyal to President Bashar Assad in a bloody civil war that has cost the lives of an estimated 500,000 people. They include Islamic State (ISIS), a jihadist group that has also captured swaths of Iraq; Al-Nusra Front, which is also known as Al-Qaeda in Syria; and Jaysh al-Islam, among others, according to Globalo. Since 1979, the Syrian government has been put on the State Department's list as a state sponsor of terrorism. It is also known for its support of the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah. A number of terrorist organizations have been fighting forces loyal to President Bashar Assad in a bloody civil war that has cost the lives of an estimated 500,000 people Advertisement

IRAQ Iraq has been unstable ever since the 2003 invasion of the country by US forces. The overthrow of Saddam Hussein paved the way for Shi'ite-led governments to take over, though they have failed to bring order to the country. Organizations like Islamic State, made up primarily of Sunni gunmen, have filled the vacuum and prevented an orderly post-Saddam transition from taking hold. ISIS has launched dozens of terrorist attacks that have killed thousands. Organizations like Islamic State, made up primarily of Sunni gunmen, have filled the vacuum and prevented an orderly post-Saddam transition from taking hold Advertisement

IRAN Iran has been designated by the State Department as 'the foremost sponsor of terrorism in 2015, providing a range of support, including financial, training, and equipment, to groups around the world,' according to CNN. The US says that Iran has given weapons and cash to organizations like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraqi Shi'ite groups, including Kata'ib Hizballah. Both organizations are designated as terrorist groups by the State Department. The US says that Iran has given weapons and cash to organizations like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraqi Shi'ite groups, including Kata'ib Hizballah Advertisement

LIBYA Libya, the North African nation, has been a powder keg in which terrorist organizations have been fighting for control of the country since the NATO-backed ouster of long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The US intelligence community says that jihadist organizations have been strengthening their grip on the country, according to The Washington Times. ISIS has been particularly active there. 'There are, in addition to ISIL, probably six or eight other terrorist groups that have gathered in Libya,' James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, told Congress in 2015. 'So it's a magnet because, essentially, it's ungoverned.' The US intelligence community says that jihadist organizations have been strengthening their grip on Libya Advertisement

SOMALIA Somalia is widely regarded as a failed state. It was ranked as the most fragile country in the world by the Fund for Peace in 2016. Without a functioning central government, the East African country has disintegrated further into civil war. Its UN-backed government has been at war with Al-Shabab, a group regarded by both the US and the United Kingdom as a terrorist organization, according to the BBC. Al-Shabab is believed to have between 7,000 and 9,000 gunmen from across the Muslim world. The organization propagates the austere Wahabi version of Islam whose origins lie in Saudi Arabia. Al-Shabab has imposed strict clerical rule in areas that it has captured in Somalia, where it has stoned women to death for the crime of adultery and amputated the hands of thieves. Without a functioning central government, the East African country has disintegrated further into civil war Advertisement

SUDAN Sudan was placed on the State Department’s list of terrorism sponsors in 1993. At the time, it was alleged that the government harbored figures like Osama bin Laden in addition to fighters from al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Abu Nidal Organization, and Jamaat al-Islamiyya. In the late 1990s, however, Sudan showed willingness to cooperate with the West in fighting terrorism. In May 2004, Sudan was removed from a list of countries that were ‘not fully cooperating’ with American anti-terrorism efforts. However, the Sudanese government remains on the terror sponsor list due to its support of Hamas, the Palestinian group fighting Israel. Sudan has been on the US State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1993 Advertisement

YEMEN Yemen, one of the most impoverished Arab countries, has been in the grip of a civil war fought between forces loyal to the established government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and the Houthi rebel movement, according to the BBC. The Houthis are a Shi’ite political movement that took control of the Yemenite capital in 2014. Since then, regional forces backed by Sunni governments have tried to roll back their progress, while Shi’ite actors like Iran and Hezbollah have given the Houthis support. Nearly 7,000 people have died and 35,000 have been wounded since the war erupted in March 2015. Most of the casualties have resulted from air strikes launched by the Saudi-led coalition – which has the backing of the US. The country has been wracked by violence and chaos, with al Qaeda launching attacks and separatist movements having taken control of the southern part of the country. Yemen has been wracked by violence and chaos, with al Qaeda launching attacks and separatist movements having taken control of the southern part of the country Advertisement

He could also instruct US Customs and Border Protection to stop any current visa holders from those countries from entering the United States.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Tuesday that the State and Homeland Security departments would work on the vetting process once Trump's nominee to head the State Department, Rex Tillerson, is installed.

Other measures may include directing all agencies to finish work on a biometric identification system for non-citizens entering and exiting the United States and a crackdown on immigrants fraudulently receiving government benefits, according to the congressional aides and immigration experts.

As president, Trump can use an executive order to halt refugee processing. President George W. Bush used that same power in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Refugee security vetting was reviewed and the process was restarted several months later.

Trump's insistence that Mexico would pay for the wall was among his most popular proposals on the campaign trail, sparking enthusiastic cheers at his raucous rallies.

Mexico has repeatedly said it will not pay for any border wall.

Earlier this month, Trump said the building project would initially be paid for with a congressionally approved spending bill and Mexico will eventually reimburse the US, though he has not specified how he would guarantee payments.

Trump will meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto at the White House next week.

In claiming authority to build a wall, Trump may rely on a 2006 law that authorized several hundred miles of fencing along the 2,000-mile frontier.

That bill led to the construction of about 700 miles of various kinds of fencing designed to block both vehicles and pedestrians.

The Secure Fence Act was signed by then-President George W. Bush and the majority of the fencing in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California was built before he left office.

The last remnants were completed after President Barack Obama took office in 2009.

The Trump administration also must adhere to a decades-old border treaty with Mexico that limits where and how structures can be built along the border.

The 1970 treaty requires that structures cannot disrupt the flow of the rivers, which define the US-Mexican border along Texas and 24 miles in Arizona, according to The International Boundary and Water Commission, a joint US-Mexican agency that administers the treaty.

Other executive actions expected Wednesday include bolstering border patrol agents and ending what Republicans have argued is a catch-and-release system at the border.

Currently, some immigrants caught crossing the border illegally are given notices to report back to immigration officials at a later date.

If Trump's actions would result in those caught being immediately jailed, the administration would have to grapple with how to pay for jail space to detain everyone and what to do with children caught crossing the border with their parents.



