Washington — President Trump invoked muscular presidential powers to begin a sweeping crackdown on immigration following his inauguration on Monday, tasking the military with border enforcement, moving to designate cartels and gangs as terrorist groups, shutting down asylum and refugee admissions and attempting to terminate birthright citizenship.
Mr. Trump issued a blitz of executive actions to start reshaping federal immigration and border policies, many of which are expected to face significant legal challenges. “As commander in chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions, and that is what I’m going to do,” Mr. Trump said in his inaugural address.
Here are the executive actions Mr. Trump took on immigration during his first day back at the White House:
Suspending asylum, and restarting border wall construction and “Remain in Mexico”
Mr. Trump cited extraordinary presidential powers to effectively suspend U.S. asylum law, accusing migrants of staging an “invasion” at the southern border and endangering public health.
He authorized officials to “repel, repatriate, or remove” migrants, suspending their “physical entry” into the U.S. through his constitutional powers. The far-reaching order essentially allows the U.S. government to stop adhering to American asylum law, until Mr. Trump issues a “finding that the invasion at the southern border has ceased.”
Mr. Trump also instructed officials to restart construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, relaunching a massive, multi-billion-dollar government project that had been halted by President Joe Biden. During the Trump administration, about 450 miles of barriers were built along the southwest border.
Federal agencies were ordered to begin the process of reinstating the so-called “Remain in Mexico” policy, which requires migrants to wait for their asylum hearings on the Mexican side of the border. Biden’s administration suspended that policy soon after taking office, though it was forced to revive it briefly due to a court order. Reviving the program would require the consent of the Mexican government, which has not yet publicly agreed to it.
A national emergency to increase military presence at the border
Mr. Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border, calling the situation there “a grave threat to our nation.”
The president ordered the Defense Department to more heavily involve the vast resources and manpower of the U.S. military at the U.S.-Mexico border, tasking officials to deploy “as many units or members of the Armed Forces” as needed to help the Department of Homeland Security obtain “complete operational control” of the border.
Mr. Trump also ordered the Pentagon to help build border barriers. The U.S. military has had a presence along the U.S.-Mexico border for the past several decades, mostly to provide operational assistance to Customs and Border Protection.
An attempt to end birthright citizenship
One of Mr. Trump’s most controversial immigration orders on Monday sought to deny birthright citizenship to the children of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally or on temporary visas.
The U.S. government has long interpreted the U.S. Constitution to mean that those born on American soil are citizens at birth, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution says: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
But Mr. Trump directed federal agencies to stop issuing passports, citizenship certificates and other documents to children born in the U.S. to mothers in the country illegally and fathers who are not citizens or legal permanent residents, or to mothers who are temporary visa holders (and fathers who are not citizens or legal permanent residents).
Mr. Trump said his edict, which would not apply retroactively, should be enforced in 30 days. But just hours after it was issued, the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups filed a lawsuit challenging the action in federal court.
Labeling gangs, cartels as terrorist groups
Mr. Trump instructed officials to start the process of designating cartels and international gangs as foreign terrorist organizations, seeking to penalize the groups that largely control the illicit movement of migrants and drugs across the U.S. southern border.
Administration officials said the gangs include the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as well as MS-13, which originated in U.S. cities before spreading to Central America.
The officials said they plan to invoke the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798 to seek the removal of Tren de Aragua gang members, arguing they are an “armed force of the Venezuelan government” conducting a “predatory incursion and invasion” into the U.S.
A pause in refugee admissions
Mr. Trump suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, once an initiative that enjoyed broad bipartisan support, citing the strain on the receiving communities. His order name-checked several communities, including Springfield, Ohio, where the arrival of thousands of Haitian immigrants garnered the national spotlight after Mr. Trump and allies falsely accused the immigrants of eating pets.
The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program allows certain refugees fleeing persecution and war to come to the U.S. legally after rounds of interviews, security vetting and medical screenings. The Biden administration had rebuilt refugee admissions after they fell to a record low at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic due to travel limits and drastic Trump-era cuts to the program.
Mr. Trump’s order directed officials to launch a review of whether restarting refugee admissions is in the national interest. He allowed officials to make some exemptions to the suspension of admissions on a case-by-case basis.
Shutting down Biden administration immigration programs
Mr. Trump’s administration quickly began to dismantle Biden administration immigration polices.
Just minutes after Mr. Trump’s inauguration, officials shut down a phone app that enabled asylum-seekers in Mexico to request entry into the U.S. He also ordered the termination of an initiative that allowed migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to fly to the U.S. if they had American sponsors. Both policies were designed to curb illegal immigration by offering would-be migrant legal alternatives to crossing the southern border illegally.
The U.S. government estimates that around 270,000 migrants were in Mexico, trying to get an appointment to enter the U.S. through the app, known as CBP One, when the process was halted, according to CBS News reporting. The Trump administration announced it would not distribute new appointments or honor the roughly 30,000 appointments already scheduled for the next three weeks.
Steps to facilitate mass deportation pledge
Through another executive order, Mr. Trump laid the groundwork for his promised mass deportations, calling on officials to “promptly” expand detention sites to hold migrants and increase agreements with local law enforcement authorities so they can be deputized as immigration officers.
Under these so-called 287(g) agreements, local law enforcement would be allowed to oversee the “investigation, apprehension, or detention of aliens in the United States under the direction and the supervision of the Secretary of Homeland Security,” the order said.
Mr. Trump also directed the Justice and Homeland Security departments to set up task forces in all states, with the help of state and local law enforcement, to go after cartels, international gangs and smuggling networks.
Other actions
Mr. Trump directed the attorney general to seek the death penalty for those who murder law enforcement officers and unauthorized immigrants who commit “capital” crimes.
He also assigned federal agencies to issue suggestions for further restrictions on immigration from countries whose citizens cannot be properly vetted.
