PHILADELPHIA — President Donald Trump called on fellow Republicans to help him enact "great and lasting change" during a party retreat Thursday but offered few details. Later his spokesman said the president will seek a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports to pay for a proposed border wall.
The president was greeted by cheers as he took the stage in a hotel ballroom, telling senators and House members, "This Congress is going to be the busiest Congress in decades — maybe ever."
He addressed lawmakers shortly after Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto canceled a trip to Washington next week for his first meeting with the new president due to their disagreement over which of their countries would pay to build Trump's promised wall on the border between them.
The wall is part of Trump's plan to halt illegal immigration to the U.S., and he has long insisted that Mexico will pay. Pena Nieto insists his country will not.
On the flight back to Washington, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters traveling with the president that Trump will seek to impose a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports to pay for the wall. Congressional approval would be needed for such a step.
In Trump's remarks to lawmakers, he cast the cancellation of his engagement with Pena Nieto as a mutual decision, saying they had "agreed to cancel our planned meeting." Trump had tweeted early Thursday that "it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting" given Pena Nieto's unwillingness to pay for the border wall.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
EARLIER:
WASHINGTON — The Border Patrol chief is leaving the agency on the heels of President Donald Trump's announcement of a plan to build a large wall at the Mexican border and hire 5,000 Border Patrol agents.
It was not immediately clear whether Mark Morgan resigned or was asked to leave.
Customs and Border Protection said Thursday that Morgan's last official day in office will be Tuesday. But a U.S. official and a former official said Border Patrol agents were told Thursday that Morgan was no longer with the agency.
The U.S. official wasn't authorized to discuss the move before a public announcement and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The former official asked not to be identified before a government announcement.
Morgan was named to the post in June and took office in October. The former FBI agent briefly led the internal affairs department at the Border Patrol's parent agency before heading the agency of roughly 20,000 agents.
Morgan leaves office only seven months after being named the first outsider to lead the agency since it was founded in 1924.
From the start, he clashed with the Border Patrol's union, which endorsed Trump early and forcefully during the presidential campaign. The National Border Patrol Council had advocated for an insider to lead the agency and sharply criticized Morgan at almost every turn.
The former official said Morgan was not at work yesterday and did not attend a gathering at the Homeland Security Department with Trump and newly appointed Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.