Sending troops to the border and the end of birthright citizenship: Trump’s first immigration measures

Donald Trump has taken advantage of his first day in the White House to chart the course of his second presidency. Tonight the president signed a series of executive orders that will define his Government for the next four years. As he announced in his investiture speech, a dozen of them seek to “fight against the disastrous invasion of the border.” The president has initiated the legal path to eliminate citizenship by birth for the children of undocumented immigrants, reactivated the construction of the controversial wall with Mexico, decreed a border emergency and mobilized army troops to stop irregular immigration. Despite its rhetoric, Joe Biden’s Administration left the crossing numbers at their lowest point in three years.

Trump has also designated Mexican drug cartels and the Tren de Aragua gang as international terrorist organizations. This is just a handful of an avalanche of actions that the president has called “the common sense revolution.” Many of the signed decrees are expected to encounter strong opposition and be challenged in court, which could delay their implementation.

Below is a summary of the dozen executive orders on immigration matters:

End of birthright citizenship

“Oh, this is an important one,” Trump said when one of his employees announced the contents of the folder. Much was said in the campaign about the Republican’s promise to end the possibility that children of undocumented immigrants can receive nationality, something that the order defines as a “profound and invaluable gift.”

“The privilege of citizenship does not automatically extend to those born in the United States when their mother is illegally in the country and/or the father is not a U.S. citizen,” the text states. In addition, the measure affects people with temporary visas, such as students, workers or tourists.

Experts have warned that this right, protected by the fourteenth constitutional amendment, cannot be unilaterally eliminated by the Executive, which predicts one of the first judicial battles of this new stage. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has already filed, along with other organizations, the first lawsuit against the measure.

Suspend the asylum program

“The United States lacks the capacity to absorb large groups of migrants, especially refugees, without compromising the resources intended for Americans,” says the executive order that suspends, since January 27, the arrival of new asylum seekers. The measure It also affects those displaced by the climate emergency.

The decree temporarily interrupts a fundamental pillar of US immigration policy, already restricted during the Biden Administration. However, it leaves open the possibility of its reactivation in the medium term, by ordering the departments of State and Interior to present a report within 90 days to evaluate its viability. Thereafter, a quarterly report will be issued to determine whether the program is in line with “national interests.”

The suspension has already left its first victims. Tens of thousands of migrants who were following their asylum process through the CBP One application saw the tool stop working on their phones since noon. This leaves 30,000 people who had appointments scheduled in the next three weeks in the air.

Drug traffickers, equated with terrorists

Trump enthusiastically announced the signing of an order that equates drug trafficking cartels with international terrorist organizations. The document states that these groups operate in some areas of Mexico as “quasi-governmental entities” that control “almost all aspects of society.” “People have wanted this for a long time,” declared the president. “Mexico probably won’t like it, but we have to do it,” he added.

The order highlights that cartel activity near the border represents an “unacceptable risk” to the national security of the United States and requires their presence in the country to be eradicated. When a reporter asked if this implied the possibility of sending special forces to Mexico, Trump responded: “Maybe. “Stranger things have happened.” The measure also includes gangs such as the Tren de Aragua and La Mara Salvatrucha.

Send troops to the border

Trump has given the Pentagon ten days to present a plan to “seal the border and maintain the sovereignty” of the country. The Secretary of Defense must detail the operation, the number of troops and their location in a report that will be delivered in a month.

Emergency declaration

The “sovereignty of the United States is under siege,” says Trump. For this reason, it has decreed a national border emergency, which forces Defense to provide logistical support and resources, including aircraft, to protect the area and prevent “the physical entry of any undocumented person.” The rule authorizes the Government to resume construction of the controversial border wall, halted during the Biden era. It calls on the Department of the Interior to lift restrictions on drone flights within the area restricted by international treaties, eight kilometers from the line.

End of ‘catch and release’ and humanitarian ‘parole’

The Executive has announced that any person who enters the United States irregularly will be “immediately detained and deported.” “We will return millions of people to their countries of origin,” the president declared in the morning. This Monday, the Republican Government revoked a series of decrees from the Biden era that addressed the border crisis with a humanitarian approach.

With the cancellation of these measures, Trump toughens the persecution of migrants and eliminates the humanitarian protections that allowed citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to renew work visas for two years after their arrival.

The new laws order the Department of the Interior to create interagency special forces to locate migrants in the States and in the so-called “sanctuary cities.” In addition, they put an end to the “Catch & Release” policy, which allowed the release of undocumented immigrants while their case was resolved in court. The goal now is to keep migrants detained as long as possible until their deportation.

Return of ‘Stay in Mexico’

The Administration has reinstated the controversial Remain in Mexico, which affected 75,000 migrants, forcing them to wait in Mexican territory while their cases progressed through the courts. Officially known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, the program must be implemented “as soon as possible” in all sectors of the southern border. The rule instructs authorities to return migrants “to the territory where they arrived,” which could generate new tensions with the Mexican Government of Claudia Sheinbaum. Biden had suspended this measure in 2022.

Veto on nationalities

Trump has left open the possibility of banning certain nationalities from entering the country. One of the decrees establishes that the Executive has the power to implement measures to combat irregular immigration, including restricting entry to groups considered part of “the invasion.” This interpretation of presidential power is similar to the one that allowed the veto of immigrants from Muslim countries in 2017. That order was annulled by a series of subsequent judicial decisions.

The new Government inherits the border at its lowest level of irregular crossings in three years. In December 2024, fewer than 100,000 crossings were recorded, a figure not seen since January 2021, when the health emergency stopped migration to the north. In the last six months of the Biden administration, apprehensions fell 70% compared to the same period in 2023, according to official data.

The “Gulf of America”

Administration agencies have received the order to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico. The new name will cover the continental area that borders Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, as well as the maritime limits with Mexico and Cuba. The implementation of this change will be the responsibility of the Department of the Interior.

Trump justifies this decision by highlighting that the Gulf is the largest in the world and provides 14% of US crude oil, in addition to large quantities of natural gas. Throughout his inauguration, the president has reiterated his intention to reactivate oil exploitation after the elimination of environmental regulations imposed by Biden.