Trump plans to crack down on immigration with the military and a state of emergency

WASHINGTON – President Trump took steps Monday to further fundamentally change how the nation handles immigration, saying he would sign executive orders to manage deportations, declare a national emergency on the southern border and send the military there.

Trump said he would immediately stop all illegal immigration at the border, adding that he would use an 18th-century law to carry out his plan to remove people from the country without permission.

“We have a government that has given unlimited funding to protecting our foreign borders but refuses to protect America’s borders or, more importantly, its people,” Trump said in his opening remarks in the Capitol rotunda.

In the months leading up to his election and inauguration, Trump promised to overhaul the immigration system and border security on “Day 1” by executive order alongside the normal legislative process. At his noon inauguration, Trump said he would sign executive orders on Monday.

The executive branch has broad authority on immigration matters, but many of the president’s orders will soon face legal challenge.

Trump has promised the largest deportation effort in American history, which will be carried out under the direction of Stephen Miller and Tom Homan, the architects of his first zero-tolerance policy that led to thousands of immigrant parents being separated from their children. Trump’s efforts will be stymied without additional funding from Congress, where Republicans hold a minority of officials.

Illegal border crossings have fallen sharply over the past year, with current levels the lowest since Trump left office. The emergency declaration allows Trump to open federal resources to fund the construction of the border wall, as he did in 2019.

In June, the Biden administration began effectively blocking most migrants from seeking asylum along the US-Mexico border. The restrictions did not apply to those awaiting designation for legal entry at official ports of entry.

On Monday, hundreds of asylum seekers learned that use of CBP One, the phone app they had hired, had ended and their scheduled interviews had been canceled. Tens of thousands of migrants, some of whom had been waiting more than six months to be interviewed, are now stranded in Mexico. In recent months, more immigrants entered legally through CBP One appointments than those arrested after entering the US illegally.

“As commander in chief, I have no other responsibility than to protect our country from threats and attacks, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” Trump said. “We will do it at a level that no one has seen before.”

Another order would designate drug cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.

Some of the orders would bring back policies from Trump’s first term that Biden had abandoned, such as Stay in Mexico. Under that policy, asylum seekers must stay across the border while their asylum cases are being processed.

Trump has said he will end what conservatives call “catch and release,” the practice of releasing immigrants from custody while they await the outcome of cases that often drag on for years in immigration courts.

There is not enough space for government authorities to arrest all those in deportation proceedings. Last fiscal year, Congress funded 41,500 beds at a cost of $3.4 billion. As of December 29, more than 39,000 immigrants were detained pending deportation proceedings.

Trump said he would use the US military to carry out border security efforts.

“By invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, I will direct our government to use the full and massive powers of national law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks that bring heinous crimes to the United States,” Trump said.

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which was last used during World War II to send people from Japan, Germany and Italy to internment camps, allows the president to arrest, detain or deport immigrants from a country deemed an enemy of the US during wartime. Trump can use it to quickly impeach without due process of law. But legal experts say the courts are likely to ignore Trump’s interpretation as more than what the law allows.

Brad Jones, a political science professor at UC Davis, noted that many of Trump’s first-term executive orders have withstood court challenges, including those on the border wall and Mexico. Because of the Supreme Court’s strong majority, challenges to it overstepping its bounds may eventually be dropped, Jones said.

“These high commands, in my opinion, set the stage for thinking about the border as a war zone,” he said.

In a second speech at Emancipation Hall, Trump praised Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, who has supported dismantling the border and busing immigrants to liberal states like New York and California. Trump repeated baseless allegations that almost every country in the world sends criminals to the US, saying Abbott should deal with them himself. But, bragging about his expansion of the border wall, Trump signaled that Abbott’s position would soon change.

“That wall will go up very quickly,” he said.

The Trump administration was planning immigration raids in Chicago this week, but Homan told reporters that officials are reconsidering their plans because leaked information puts agents at risk. Other major immigrant communities, including Los Angeles, may be targeted in future attacks.

In California, a 2018 law enacted in response to Trump’s first executive order limits cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. The California Values ​​Act prohibits local police from detaining someone for extra time to be transferred to immigration detention, but allows them to notify federal agents of a person’s release if they have certain or more serious charges.

Some local law enforcement leaders, including Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, have signaled a willingness to go beyond the law to help immigration agents deport them. Attempts to break the law will not be tolerated, California Atty. Said Gen. Rob Bonta. “We are willing to take action against any law enforcement agencies that do not follow the law,” Bonta said on Friday.

Bonta said he is ready to fight Trump in court. The California Department of Justice sued the first Trump administration more than 100 times.

“If he tries to persuade the National Guard or the military to participate in his mass deportation, if he wants to end the birthright – a constitutional right – and harms US citizens, if he tries to attack the sanctuary and the situation on the part of immigrants. , we are ready to take action on the first day,” said Bonta.

Some California immigrants are already on edge after the Border Patrol made dozens of arrests in Bakersfield this month, questioning people at Home Depot, gas stations and on their way to farm work.

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, said the organization organized a vigil Tuesday night to create a safe space for immigrants to gather and learn more about Trump’s first executive order. He stressed that because Los Angeles is considered a natural disaster area, immigration agents should not be conducting law enforcement duties there.

“The community of Los Angeles is worried about the future, but we are not afraid because of panic,” Salas said.

Castillo reported from Washington and Uranga from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Patrick J. McDonnell in Mexico City contributed to this report.