President-elect Donald Trump has already discussed his ‘day one’ agenda and it’s not one that will go over well with most Democrats. Trump will immediately intensify border security and interior immigration enforcement upon returning to office, according to immigration experts and allies of the incoming administration. Trump secured a decisive re-election victory, winning some 312 electoral votes and attracting more than 74 million voters since Election Day, according to the latest results. His victory highlights the focus of his campaign platform, which includes highly stringent border security measures.
The president-elect, who solidified his reputation as a strong advocate for border enforcement during his first term, made several campaign promises related to border security over the past year. These included completing the U.S.-Mexico border wall, reinstating the Remain in Mexico program, reintroducing the travel ban, and increasing the number of Border Patrol agents. Trump also proposed a number of more unconventional measures during his campaign, such as pledging to carry out the “largest deportation program in American history” and pushing to end birthright citizenship for children born on U.S. soil to illegal immigrant parents, the Daily Caller reported.
Trump’s rhetoric and past reputation may have already played a role in easing the immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. After learning of his re-election, many migrants in southern Mexico expressed feelings of hopelessness and chose to abandon a caravan heading toward the U.S. A Mexican official noted that the incoming caravan, initially numbering around 3,000 migrants, was cut in half after Trump’s victory was declared.
Immigration experts who spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation cautioned that anti-border groups will vigorously oppose the incoming administration. However, they assured that the American people can expect a return to the tough immigration measures implemented during Trump’s first term.
“America can expect the new Trump administration to do what the prior Trump Administration did: To apply the Immigration and Nationality Act, as written by Congress. And to restore the rule of law, both to the Southern border and to the legal immigration system,” said Matt O’Brien, investigations director at the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), a conservative legal group in Washington, D.C., that pushes for stricter immigration policies.
“The overall goal will be protecting the public safety and national security of the United States; as well as protecting migrants — especially vulnerable women and children — from exploitation by smugglers and traffickers,” O’Brien continued. “The only thing that needs to be done to ‘fix’ the immigration system is to use the laws on the books as Congress intended. And President Trump will do that.”
Several lawmakers in the House and Senate told the DCNF that they are prepared to introduce their own legislation once Trump returns to the Oval Office. For instance, Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz expressed his intention to pass the Justice for Jocelyn Act in the next Congress. The bill, named in honor of a 12-year-old Houston girl allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered in June by two illegal migrants, would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to “exhaust all reasonable efforts” to keep an illegal migrant in custody before releasing them into the interior of the country, according to the proposed legislation.
“In a second Trump administration, the House Committee on Homeland Security will do everything possible to help the United States return to an era of secure borders and robust interior enforcement,” GOP Rep. Mark Green, who serves as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, stated to the DCNF. “Ending the Biden-Harris border crisis will require two things — policy changes to end the flow of inadmissible aliens into our country, and more funding for interior enforcement to demonstrate that there are consequences to entering illegally.”
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.