President Donald Trump vowed again to build a wall along the US-Mexico border in a tweet Thursday.
“Mexico was just ranked the second deadliest country in the world, after only Syria. Drug trade is largely the cause. We will BUILD THE WALL!” the President tweeted.
The tweet is apparently a reference to a report last month from the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Fox News’ William La Jeunesse referred to the statistic on air earlier Thursday, and Trump had retweeted a link to a CNN story containing the same information in May.
Trump talked about building a wall during a speech Wednesday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, claiming his proposal could pay for itself if it is a “solar wall.”
“And this way, Mexico will have to pay much less money,” he said. “And that’s good, right? Is that good? You are the first group I’ve told that to. A solar wall. It makes sense. Let’s see. We are working it out. Solar wall panels.”
Vice President Mike Pence commented on border security earlier Thursday during an event at the Wilson Center.
“People know that President Trump has made it clear we’re going to invest in border security, we’re going to build a wall,” Pence said. “But I can assure all those present that we’re going to continue to work with the Mexico as a critical partner in the region, critical partner in this hemisphere, and dealing with the issues of promoting security in the region and promoting prosperity in the region is in the interest of the United States of America.”