Minutes after being sworn into office, President Donald Trump laid out a series of tough actions he’s taking to stop border crossings between ports of entry and begin deporting some of millions of people in the U.S. without authorization. Those policy changes were expected to start rolling in fast in the first hours and days of his second term after a campaign in which Trump vowed to launch the largest deportation operation in the country’s history.
Trump said Monday he would declare a national emergency at the border, which will free up military funding to build more sections of a border wall, support operations to stop border crossings, and “send troops” to the Southern Border to “repel the disastrous invasion of our country.”
“As Commander in Chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions, and that is exactly what I am going to do,” Trump said.
Trump also said he would reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy that demands people seeking asylum to wait outside the U.S. while their cases are considered—a move that will require cooperation from the Mexican government. Trump also pledged to designate some drug cartels “foreign terrorist organizations” and use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to pressure state and local police to arrest and help deport foreign born people in the U.S. illegally. He is also expected to kick-start his latest attempt to revoke birthright citizenship, which is currently protected by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.
The impact on the border of Trump’s inauguration was immediate. Moments after Trump was formally sworn in, people waiting at border crossings in Mexico reportedly had their asylum appointments canceled by Customs and Border Protection, and received messages that the federal program that used a phone app called CBP One to set up appointments for asylum seekers was now canceled. The Biden Administration started that program to create a more orderly system for people to seek asylum and deter migrants from crossing between points of entry and surrendering themselves to Border Patrol agents in order to have their claim heard.
Many of Trump’s actions will likely be challenged in court, as they were during his first term. When Trump declared a similar national emergency on the border in 2019 in order to justify using military funds for building a border wall, courts blocked the move, saying a military construction project needed to be in support of a military deployment.
Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, says that Trump is overreaching with his use of emergency powers, especially since the number of people crossing the border unlawfully has been declining in recent months. “This is an abuse of emergency powers for the same reason it was before,” Goitein says, “Emergency powers are not meant to address long-standing problems that Congress has the power to solve.”
