Washington — President-elect Donald Trump is planning to invoke muscular presidential powers to begin a sweeping crackdown on immigration after his inauguration on Monday, tasking the military with border enforcement, designating cartels and gangs as terrorist groups, shutting down asylum and refugee admissions and attempting to terminate birthright citizenship.
Trump is expected to issue around 10 executive actions on his first day in office to start reshaping federal immigration and border policy, many of which are expected to face significant legal challenges, incoming administration officials said on a call with reporters on Monday morning.
Here are the executive actions Trump is planning to take on immigration and border policy:
A national emergency to increase military presence at the border
Trump is planning to declare a national emergency at the southern border, the officials said. He will order the Department of Defense to more heavily involve the vast resources and manpower of the U.S. military at the border, tasking officials to deploy additional troops there.
For over the past decades, the U.S. military has had a presence along the U.S.-Mexico border, mostly to provide operational assistance to Customs and Border Protection.
And “end” to asylum, and restarting border wall construction and “Remain in Mexico”
Trump is instructing 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 Biden. During the Trump administration, about 450 miles of barriers were built along the southwest border.
Federal agencies will be 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. President 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.
Trump is also set to cite his presidential powers to “end” asylum by proclamation, allowing for fast-track deportations at the U.S.-Mexico border, officials said.
Existing rules issued by the Biden administration in June already disqualify most migrants who cross into the U.S. illegally from asylum. That policy, alongside Mexico’s efforts to slow U.S.-bound migration, has been credited for the current four-year-low in illegal border crossings.
Labeling gangs, cartels as terrorist groups
Trump is 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. The gangs include the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and MS-13, which originated in U.S. cities before spreading to Central America.
The incoming administration plans to invoke the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798 to seek the removal of Tren de Aragua gang members, officials said, arguing they are an “armed force of the Venezuelan government” conducting a “predatory incursion and invasion” into the U.S.
An attempt to end birthright citizenship
Trump is planning to attempt to deny birthright citizenship to the children of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, according to the incoming officials. 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.”
A pause in refugee admissions
Trump is expected to suspend refugee admissions into the U.S. for at least 4 months.
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.
Shutting down Biden administration immigration programs
Trump is planning to issue an order rescinding Biden administration programs. Although they were not described in the call, they likely include a phone app that allows asylum-seekers in Mexico to request entry into the U.S. and 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 are currently in Mexico, trying to get an appointment to enter the U.S. through the app, known as CBP One, according to CBS News reporting.
Other actions
Officials said Trump will direct the attorney general to seek the death penalty for unauthorized immigrants who murder law enforcement officers or commit “capital” crimes.
Trump is also assigning agencies to issue suggestions for further restrictions on immigration from countries of “particular concern.”
