President Donald Trump launched a major initiative on Monday to address the issue of border security, announcing a state of emergency concerning the U.S.-Mexico border situation. The measures taken included the mobilization of the U.S. military forces to combat not only illegal immigration, but also the scourge of drug trafficking. Characterizing these issues as a type of invasion, Trump’s executive actions signify preliminary steps towards fulfilling his long-standing commitment to enforcing immigration rules and regulations, including the controversial termination of birthright citizenship for the offspring of specific non-citizen categories.
“We are experiencing a national crisis at our southern border”, stated President Trump. The public announcement was made ascendent to 9 in the evening, preempting the impending measures being taken to combat the issue. He emphasized, “All incidences of unlawful entry will be swiftly put to an end, and we will begin to arrange the repatriation of countless illegals to their countries of origin.” Notably, the administration signaled a clear willingness to utilize military strength in taking down drug cartels, classifying them as international terrorist entities.
This declaration of a national emergency seems paradoxically timed, considering that illegal border crossings are currently at an all-time low in more than half a decade. Early this year, U.S. Customs and Border Control reported an average of 1,000 daily migrant encounters spanning the length of the boundary from California to Texas—a staggering 75% reduction compared to numbers from a year prior.
Trump’s sweeping pledge on his first day in office to enact numerous executive actions to secure the border appears to be tangible with these ten executive orders. Among these, one particular order figures prominently – it pertains to the revocation of birthright citizenship, which has traditionally been assured by the Fourteenth Amendment to every child born on American soil. This is a right that has withstood the test of time since its inception following the Civil War era.
Through this order, the administration aims to deny U.S. citizenship to children born on U.S. soil to certain illegal immigrants, a controversial departure from traditional legal interpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment. Yet another directive seeks to categorize criminal cartels as international terrorist organizations, thereby justifying military intervention against them. The intended targets are transnational criminal organizations, including the likes of Tren De Aragua and MS-13, and those involved in illicit drug trafficking, especially fentanyl.
Despite the string of tall promises to curb illegal immigration during his first term, Trump’s record did not surpass or even match the pace of deportations seen during the Obama administration. Under Obama’s leadership, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement managed to accomplish more than 360,000 annual deportations during six consecutive years of his presidency, hitting a peak of over 400,000 removals in 2012.
In contrast, the Trump era saw over 935,000 deportations spread over four years, with the highest figure in a single year being 260,000 in 2019. It appears that in this current wave of renewed commitment towards immigration regulation, Trump might resort to using legislative authority that is typically reserved for wartime situations to achieve his ambitious deportation goals.
Of the executive orders introduced on Monday, one order might mark the beginning of an unprecedented wave of immigration enforcement, reminiscent of wartime measures, if Trump decides to invoke the Alien Enemies Act. This specific order gives the President a two-week time limit to implement the Act’s authority, triggering a possible wave of immigration law enforcement methods that haven’t been practiced since the second World War.