President Donald Trump announced severe new restrictions on immigration and asylum into the United States just hours after taking office on Monday, announcing he would send troops to the US-Mexico border and attempt to end birthright citizenship.
Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border and used a discreet press conference in the Oval Office to announce a controversial order seeking to revoke the right to US nationality for anyone born in the US.
“This is a big deal,” he told reporters.
The President has acknowledged the imperative that any move to overturn the rights enshrined in the US Constitution will face formidable legal challenges.
Asked about the pushback, he said, “I think we have good grounds, but you may be right.”
Another executive order declared a national emergency along the US-Mexico border.
He said, “I agree with legal immigration. I like it. We need people and I absolutely agree with that. We want it.”
“But we have to have legal immigration.”
Earlier, in his inaugural address, he announced that he would send troops to the US-Mexico border “to repel this devastating invasion of our country.”
He said, “All illegal entry will be stopped immediately, and we will begin the process of deporting millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.”
White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly had previously announced that the administration would end the practice of granting asylum.
Appointments were canceled
The first effects of Trump’s stance became apparent just minutes after his inauguration when an app unveiled under President Joe Biden to help process asylum seekers went offline.
US media reported that appointments for 30,000 people were scheduled.
Stephen Miller, a key Trump adviser and well-known immigration fanatic, announced on social media that the doors were closed.
“All illegal aliens seeking entry into the United States must now be turned away,” he wrote.
“Anyone entering the United States without permission faces prosecution and removal.”
Kelly said the administration would also reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy prevalent under Trump’s first administration.
Under that rule, people who applied to enter the United States at the Mexican border were not allowed to do so until their application was adjudicated.
There was frustration at the US-Mexican border.
“Since we are here, please let us in,” said Cuban Yaim Perez, 27.
He said, “Please, after all the hard work we have done to reach here, let us enter your country, so that we can better ourselves in life and become something.”
court challenges
Kelly said Trump would like to use the death penalty against noncitizens who commit major crimes, including murder.
He said, “This is about national security. This is about public safety, and this is about the victims of some of the most violent, abusive criminals that we have seen enter our country in our lifetime, and this today ending in.”
Many executive actions from Trump’s first term were rescinded under Biden, including the use of so-called Title 42, which was invoked during the COVID pandemic to bar nearly all entry into the country on public health grounds .
The changes under Biden led to an influx of migrants, with photos showing thousands of people packing into the border area.
Trump repeatedly resorted to dark imagery about how illegal immigration is “poisoning the blood” of the country, words that opponents seized on as reminiscent of Nazi Germany.
Analysts say any attempt to change birthright citizenship would be fatal.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said that the 14th Amendment was “absolutely clear” in granting citizenship to anyone born in the United States except children of foreign diplomats.
“We have had birthright citizenship for centuries and no president can take it away by executive order,” he told AFP. “We expect prompt court challenges.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
