President Donald Trump made some grand promises before being elected to a second term, and one of his top priorities was cracking down on illegal immigration. During his inaugural address, the president said, “I will declare a national emergency at our southern border. All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places in which they came.” Just days into his presidency, the Donald is making good on those vows.
On Wednesday, January 22, the Department of Defense announced the deployment of 1,500 active-duty troops to help secure the border. Acting Defense Secretary Robert G. Salesses said they would assist in constructing barriers and that the Pentagon would provide military aircraft to transport more than 4,000 detained immigrants. “This is just the beginning,” he said.
“In short order,” Salesses explained, “the department will develop and execute additional missions in cooperation with the DHS, federal agencies, and state partners to address the full range of threats outlined by the President at our nation’s border,” the Associated Press reported. If requested, Defense officials are prepared to provide up to 2,000 Marines as well.
Currently, there are around 2,500 National Guard and Reserve personnel along the almost 2,000-mile-long border, though until this deployment, there were no active-duty troops working in the area. The forces sent to help with deportation flights are not part of the 1,500 troops deployed for the border mission; the Air Force will handle those flights.
For now, military troops are not allowed to perform law enforcement duties, such as arresting illegals, but that may change. Trump has requested, via an executive order, that the secretary of defense and homeland security chief provide a report within 90 days if they think the Insurrection Act of 1807 should be invoked. This would allow troops to become civil law enforcement on US land. The last time this act was invoked was in 1992, during the Los Angeles riots following the acquittal of the police officers who assaulted Rodney King.
“This is something President Trump campaigned on,” said Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary. “The American people have been waiting for such a time as this – for our Department of Defense to actually implement homeland security seriously. This is a No. 1 priority for the American people.”
On his second day in office, Trump relieved Adm. Linda Fagan of her Coast Guard command and announced the agency would be utilizing more cutter ships, aircraft, and personnel to the “Gulf of America,” a not-so-subtle hint of the president’s plans to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
Aside from claiming a national emergency for the crisis at the border, Trump also canceled the CBP One app, which allowed illegal migrants to make appointments and essentially skip the vetting process at the border.
A somewhat controversial plan includes suspending the ability to seek asylum through the southern border. A fact sheet from the White House explained: “[T]hrough the exercise of his authority, President Trump has further restricted access to the provisions of the immigration laws that would enable any illegal alien involved in an invasion across the southern border of the United States to remain in the United States, such as asylum.” This is not a permanent directive. Restrictions will be loosened when it is determined the “invasion at the border has ceased,” Trump said in a proclamation on his first day in office.
Fox News went on assignment with ICE in Boston as the agency started rounding up criminal aliens, including MS-13 gang members. “Fox News witnessed ICE Boston make eight arrests, including multiple MS-13, Interpol Red Notices, murder and rape suspects, and a volatile Haitian gang member with 18 convictions in recent years who told our cameras that he ‘ain’t going back to Haiti’ and ‘f—k Trump, Biden forever!’” the news outlet said.
Patricia H. Hyde, Acting Field Officer Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in Boston, told Fox News, “Today was a good day. Today we took several significant public safety threats out of our communities.” She Continued:
“Unfortunately, a lot were released by sanctuary policies. But we’re here to tell the Commonwealth and the rest of the country that we’re going to find them, whether they’re released or not.”
Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, had warned sanctuary cities and states that while the administration’s priority is rounding up migrant criminals, they needed to cooperate with ICE and federal authorities by reporting from jails when they have a suspect or putting them on a detainer. He said if they don’t, then other migrants who are not on their list could also be caught, which is what happened this week. “[T]he illegal alien was with an MS-13 gang member who had been released by a sanctuary jurisdiction on Tuesday with an ICE detainer that was not honored.”
Fox reported hearing a woman yell out “thank you” to agents as they arrested a violent illegal alien in a Boston neighborhood. So far, in just a few days under the Trump administration, “ICE has made more than 460 arrests of illegal immigrants, including those with criminal histories that include sexual assault, domestic violence and drugs and weapons crimes,” Fox detailed. These arrests took place in California, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, and Utah. The nationals arrested came from several countries, including Afghanistan, Angola, Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Senegal, and Venezuela.