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By Ted Hesson and Alexandra Ulmer
WASHINGTON/PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico (Reuters) – Newly sworn-in U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would declare illegal immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border a national emergency, deploying troops there and instigated the expulsion of the criminals, explaining the emergency. in his inaugural address.
Trump said he would invoke the 1798 wartime law known as the Alien Enemies Act to extradite foreign criminals to the US, the last law used to detain Japanese non-citizens. , Germans and Italians in concentration camps during the Second World War. Trump also said he would target criminal syndicates like foreign terrorist organizations.
Shortly after the inauguration, US border officials said they had shut down President Joe Biden’s CBP One legal entry program, which allowed hundreds of thousands of immigrants to enter the US legally by scheduling an appointment on the app. Existing options have been revoked, according to US Customs and Border Protection.
Trump, a Republican, won the White House after promising to strengthen border security and deport immigration numbers. While Trump criticized Democrat Biden for high levels of illegal immigration during his presidency, immigration arrests fell sharply after Biden confirmed his policies in June and while Mexico enforces enforcement.
Republicans say mass deportations are necessary after millions of immigrants crossed illegally during the Biden presidency. There were about 11 million immigrants in the US illegally or with temporary status at the beginning of 2022, according to a US government estimate, a number that some analysts put at 13 to 14 million.
“As commander-in-chief, I have no greater responsibility than to protect our country from threats and attack, and that is what I will do,” Trump said in his speech.
Trump critics and immigration advocates say mass deportations could disrupt businesses, tear families apart and cost US taxpayers billions of dollars.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups are preparing for possible lawsuits, a strategy that undermined many of Trump’s policies during his first term. California and other Democratic-led states with laws that restrict cooperation with federal immigration enforcement may also run afoul of Trump.
Americans have become less accepting of illegal immigrants since Trump’s first presidency, but remain wary of tougher measures like using detention camps, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found in December. .
BIDEN’S ENROLLMENT PROGRAM IS OUT
In several Mexican border towns, immigrants saw their visas on Biden’s CBP One app revoked shortly after Trump took office. About 280,000 people were logging into the app every day to get an appointment as of January 7.
In Matamoros, Mexico, a group of migrants from the central Mexican state of Zacatecas arrived at the border crossing at noon but were turned back by border officials who said all options were gone, a witness told Reuters.
Honduran Denia Mendez, who lives in an immigrant settlement in Piedras Negras, Mexico — across from Eagle Pass, Texas — opened her inbox 30 minutes after Trump became president. He looked at the email for several minutes, reading it over and over again, before his eyes lifted.
He said: “They canceled my appointment. Several other migrants, who a few minutes ago were laughing while feeding the pigeons potato chips, surrounded his phone, their faces suddenly sad.
Mendez’s 15-year-old daughter, Sofia, kept trying to get into the CBP One program.
“They won’t let you into the app, kid,” Mendez told him gently.
CITIZEN BORN IN MANE
Trump intends to challenge US citizenship for children born to US parents illegally, an incoming Trump official said earlier in the day. So-called “birthright citizenship” is due to an amendment to the US Constitution and any move to restrict it will cause legal problems.
Trump also plans to suspend the US refugee resettlement program for at least four months and will order a security review to determine whether visitors from other countries should be subject to the travel ban, the official said. that said.
Trump said in his speech that he would bring back his original “stay in Mexico” program, which forced non-Mexican asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for the outcome of US cases. Biden ended the program in 2021, saying the immigrants were standing at a disadvantage.
“All illegal immigration will be stopped immediately, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens to the places of origin,” Trump said.
Mexico’s Office of the President, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Economy did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Trump’s plans. At a regular press conference on Monday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum asked for calm and insisted that her government must see the details of Trump’s actions before responding.
