“National emergency” on the border with Mexico: 6 measures to reduce migration announced by Trump on his first day as US president

With his executive orders, Trump intends to restore the controversial “stay in Mexico” policy to end the practice known as “catch and release” carried out by the previous administration.

Officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols, the policy was in effect during his previous term, until it was suspended in 2022.

Under it, asylum seekers arriving at the southern border of the United States were sent to Mexico while they waited for the resolution of their cases in US immigration courts.

The program then affected 75,000 migrants trying to reach the United States.

Shortly after the inauguration, US border authorities said they had closed the outgoing president’s legal entry program, known as CBP One, which had allowed hundreds of thousands to enter by making an appointment on an app.

The scheduled appointments were canceled, according to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and its website indicates that the app is “no longer available.”

According to the BBC’s US partner CBS, the Biden administration had scheduled approximately 30,000 appointments through CBP One over the next three weeks.

Among Trump’s priorities will also be “strong” measures against “migrant sanctuaries,” the White House detailed in a statement.

In so-called “sanctuary” cities and counties, municipal employees may not “investigate, subpoena, arrest, detain, transfer or detain any person” for the purpose of enforcing immigration law, except in cases in which they are investigating serious crimes.

They are also not allowed to collect information about someone’s citizenship or immigration status, unless it is necessary to provide a municipal service.

“Sanctuary” cities like Chicago and New York could be the first targeted for deportations.

“I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country,” Trump proclaimed this Monday during his first speech as US president.

According to the statement sent by the White House to the media, border security will be considered “a matter of national security” and the armed forces, including the National Guard, will be involved.

It was not specified how many and to what exact points these troops will be assigned.

The announcement has already sparked criticism, as US law prohibits soldiers from directly detaining civilians.

The new administration will also have as a priority continuing to build the wall along the more than 3,000 km that separate the US and Mexico.

In addition to militarizing the border area, the declaration of national emergency will allow the new administration to allocate more funds and resources to the “mass deportation” that Trump has been promising for months.

“All illegal entry will immediately stop, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens to the places from which they came,” the new president proclaimed once again during his speech.

Although it did not specify where and when the returns will begin.

The new White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, will be in charge of overseeing the government’s immigration policies, and will work closely with the “border czar” and Trump’s faithful advisor, Tom Homan.

Homan, who headed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the Republican’s first term, will be in charge of planning raids and other actions.

Meanwhile, the new Congress, in both chambers of which the Republican Party has a majority, has already aligned itself with Trump’s immigration policies.

A law that would allow the deportations of undocumented migrants who have committed minor crimes, such as theft, even if they have not been convicted of it, has already been approved by the House of Representatives and this Monday the Senate gave it the green light. Now all that remains is for the Chamber to confirm it again.

Another executive order that Trump is expected to sign this Monday contemplates the suspension of refugee resettlement.

The previous government had expanded the reception of refugees to more than 100,000 per year.

The White House argues without details that the suspension responds to the fact that there are “communities that were forced to host an unsustainable number of migrants, calling into question their security and resources.”

Since his previous term, the Republican usually associates migration with the increase in crime in the United States.

Along these lines, in addition to sealing the border, Trump announced that he will begin the process to designate the Mexican drug trafficking cartels and the Aragua Train, a gang that emerged in a prison in Venezuela and with a presence in other Latin American countries, as ” terrorist organizations”.

The measure is observed with fear from Mexico City, since it is interpreted that it could open the door to an eventual US military intervention in Mexican territory.

At the same time, the Foreign Enemies Act of 1798 will be invoked to expel members of said groups from the country.

This rule allows the prosecution of foreign gang members in the US, a power that was last used to detain people of Japanese, German and Italian descent in internment camps during World War II.

Trump also plans to reinstate the death penalty at the federal level, whose moratorium was imposed under Biden.

The Justice Department will pursue the death penalty as the “appropriate punishment for heinous crimes against humanity,” including for those who kill law enforcement officers and for “illegal immigrants who maim and murder Americans,” the White House said in a statement. a statement this Monday.

In 2021, then-Attorney General Merrick Garland declared a moratorium on federal executions while the Department of Justice reviewed relevant procedures.

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