His days in power dwindling, Trump heads to Texas to see border wall

[January 12, 2021]  By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump plans to emerge from seclusion on Tuesday for the first time since the U.S. Capitol was ransacked by pro-Trump protesters and will travel to Alamo, Texas, to visit his signature border wall.

Trump agreed to the trip as members of his staff encouraged him to undertake events highlighting his legacy. He has spent the last two months in a futile attempt to contest the Nov. 3 election won by Democratic President-elect Joe Biden.

Bitter and upset with little more than a week until he hands over power to Biden, Trump has been closeted in the White House with close advisers since Wednesday, when his supporters laid siege to the Capitol and the resulting violence led to the deaths of six people.

The White House said there was no symbolism to the choice of Alamo for Trump's visit. The Alamo mission in San Antonio, Texas, was the scene of a famous 1836 battle when Texans were routed by Mexican forces.

Trump has sought to cut down on cross-border migrants and legal immigration throughout his term, and the wall project dates to his 2016 pledge to seal off the border with a wall.

White House spokesman Judd Deere said the visit would mark Trump’s “completion of more than 400 miles of border wall — a promise made, promise kept — and his administration’s efforts to reform our broken immigration system.”

A helicopter of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) flies over the construction site where a border fence is being removed, which will be replaced by a new section of the border wall in Sunland Park, New Mexico, U.S., as seen from the Mexican side of the border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico January 8, 2021. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

The 400 miles (644 km) includes a significant amount of wall construction in places where previous administrations had already built structures.

Trump is expected to deliver remarks at the border site about his immigration efforts.

He is facing demands from Democrats in the U.S. Congress and some Republicans to resign from office. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi is seeking to impeach him and some lawmakers want Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the U.S. Constitution's 25th amendment to remove Trump from office.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; additional reporting by Mimi Dwyer in Los Angeles; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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