US President Donald Trump to approve plans to build Mexican wall

US President Donald Trump is set to order the construction of a wall on the Mexican border to stop illegal immigrants from entering the United States.

White House officials said the president plans to sign an executive order later today that will fund the construction of the wall, the New York Times reports.

Trump insists the wall is needed to curb the flow of immigrants crossing the county's southern border.

The US president will sign the order during a scheduled visit to the Department of Homeland Security.

During his race for the White House, Trump garnered strong criticism and support for his unrelenting declaration that he would build a wall around the Unites States’ southern border and that Mexico would pay for it.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto reiterated during a speech on January 11 that his government would not pay for a border wall.

"It is evident that we have some differences with the new government of the United States, like the topic of the wall, that Mexico of course will not pay," Nieto said.

Mexico's ex-president Vicente Fox Quesada has also been a vocal adversary of Trump's wall proposal, posting several blunt Tweets to show his disdain.