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Trump voters thrilled with promised action on border wall with Mexico

Trump voters extremely pleased with President's promised plan.

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President Donald Trump's announcement that he is taking steps toward building a US-Mexico border wall was welcome news for voters who say they're glad he is following through on one of his biggest campaign promises.

Trump's renewed vow Wednesday to seize control of the border hit close to home for Peggy Davis, whose cattle ranch near Tombstone, Arizona, is about 25 miles north of the border. She says stretches desperately need more barriers but a wall alone won't stop illegal crossings or drug smuggling. "We desperately need (Border Patrol) agents closer to the border," Davis said. Trump vowed to make Mexico pay for the wall along the 1,954-mile border, suggesting a tax on Mexican imports as a funding mechanism. Mexico opposes the wall and has repeatedly said it won't pay.

Critics in the US say the president lacks a viable financial plan for building the wall. One-third of the border already has some form of barrier, ranging from tall steel barricades to wire-mesh and livestock fencing. Jerry Blackburn, a 67-year-old retired county building official from rural Tazewell, Virginia, voted for Trump and supports his calls for cracking down on sanctuary cities and refugees coming to the US Blackburn, a Republican, said illegal immigration "has diluted our workforce and is a heavy burden to our people."

He says the multibillion-dollar price tag of the wall is "not a big number when you look at the whole scope of things," and he's not bothered that vast stretches of the border already have fencing.
"It's not like we're going to start from scratch," he said. "It's not like we're building from the Gulf to the ocean. We're just finishing something that's already been started." Immigration has long been a unifying issue for conservatives, especially in border states that bear the brunt of immigrant and drug smuggling. The issue has rallied people to vote Republican around the country over the years, including immigrants such as Mercedes B Izquierdo of Miami.

The retired saleswoman left Cuba 50 years ago and strongly backs Trump's border efforts. "I think that building a wall is an excellent, perfect idea. There's so much we have to do," she said. "There are so many people coming from South America that are coming to destroy our country. Terrorists and criminals are looking to harm us." Zachery Henry, a 23-year-old public relations and social media specialist in Houston, doesn't expect an expensive or towering concrete barrier but he says the US does need to do something about drugs smuggled from Mexico.

"I think that would be my primary concern. I'm not too concerned about illegal immigrants," Henry said. 
 

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