The executive actions include enlisting the military, resuming border wall construction, and ending birthright citizenship. Lawsuits are already being filed.
Within hours of his inauguration on Monday, President Donald Trump began signing a series of sweeping executive actions to crack down on illegal immigration and increase security at the southern border.
These actions are among many promises Trump made during his 2024 presidential campaign. He told an audience during a Latino Americans for Trump roundtable at his hotel and resort in Miami-Doral, Florida, on Oct. 22 that he believed illegal immigration was a more pressing issue for the nation than inflation and the economy.
“The biggest thing is the border,” Trump said, criticizing the Biden administration’s policies.
On Monday, Trump began signing a barrage of executive orders and actions focused on border security and immigration, calling for a national emergency to mobilize a military response, ending birthright citizenship, and eliminating the CBP One app that many migrants had used to seek asylum in the United States.
These efforts are already spurring legal challenges and will create serious ramifications for the military and thousands seeking pathways to immigration in the United States.
These are the immigration actions that Trump took during his first days in office and the responses to them.
National Border Emergency
Trump declared a “national emergency at the southern border.” He invoked the National Emergencies Act and instructed the military to “take all appropriate action” to help the Department of Homeland Security in “obtaining full operational control” of the U.S.-Mexico border.
He also signed an executive order called “Securing Our Borders” to deter and prevent illegal immigration into the United States.
Actions in both orders include continued border wall construction, anti-drone security, National Guard deployment, “detaining to the maximum extent authorized by law” anyone who illegally crosses the border, and removing any illegal immigrants “who enter or remain in violation of federal law.”
The second order also terminated the CBP One app, which asylum-seekers outside the United States used to schedule appointments at ports of entry.
Another order invokes the Alien Enemies Act to stop “any invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States by a qualifying actor.” The action also designates certain international cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, describing them as “national-security threat[s] beyond that posed by traditional organized crime.” An additional order further clarifies this legal distinction.
The Trump administration also issued a directive to use the term “illegal alien” in place of “undocumented immigrant” or “noncitizen,” a Border Patrol source told The Epoch Times.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a memo on Jan. 20 calling for a “smart border wall” along the southern border. Using cameras, drones, biometrics, and motion sensors, the smart border would likely cut staffing requirements while improving security, the memo states.
Illegal immigrants who murder law enforcement officers or commit capital crimes may also face the death penalty “where possible,” according to another executive order Trump signed.
By Jacob Burg
