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Can Donald Trump really build a southwest border wall?

Posted at 6:35 PM, Sep 01, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-01 21:36:09-04

Can "The Donald" really build the wall?

Border security experts say the president has the authority to order the wall to be completed, but it likely will cost billions of dollars.

Contrary to Donald Trump's famous applause line in his presidential stump speeches, Mexico's president says he won't pay for it.

VIDEO: Watch Donald Trump's immigration speech in Phoenix

Trump's immigration policy speech in Phoenix Wednesday also gave us an idea how many illegal immigrants he would try to deport immediately. The Republican presidential nominee said he would start with two million who have been convicted of a crime.

"They've identified a very large segment that have criminal records," said state Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa. "Those certainly have to go and I think Mr. Trump delineated between that population and your 'run of the mill' [immigrants] looking for a better life."

"In his [Trump's] view," Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce spokesman James Garcia said, "the single most important issue is immigration, and if we don't fix it, the country will somehow slide into total chaos and it'll be the end of America as we know it. There's nothing that could be further from the truth."

RELATED: Fact-checking Donald Trump's speech on immigration in Phoenix

Trump said he would also triple the number of ICE deportation officers.

As part of his 10-point illegal immigration plan, Trump would also eliminate DACA, a program that gave legal status to immigrants who were brought to the country as children by their parents.