Last month, the transition team behind President-Elect, Donald Trump made a series of far-ranging requests for analysis and documents from the Department of Homeland Security. This was to enable an assessment of all available assets with regard to the construction of barriers and border walls.
The team also inquired about the capacity of the department for the expansion of immigration detentions and an aerial surveillance program, which remains popular with hardliners on immigration, despite the Obama administration scaling this back during its time in office. The team also wanted to know whether federal employees in the department may have changed the biographical information about some immigrants, to protect their civil liberties.
An internal agency memo revealed that these requests were made on 5 December, in a meeting between officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the Trump transition team. This is according to Reuters. The document provides a look at the strategy of the President-Elect for reversing policies implemented by the Obama administration and securing the US border. In response to the team’s request, over 400 miles on the border between the US and Mexico were identified by US Customs and Border Protection where new fences could be erected, as well as a similar distance on the border between the US and Canada.
During the Presidential election campaign last year, Trump vowed to build a wall on the border between the US and Mexico but claimed that one was not necessary for the border with Canada.