The kickoff of Donald Trump’s anti-immigration offensive came just a few minutes after the Republican was sworn in on Monday, January 20 in Washington, reports the New York Times.
Established by former Democratic President Joe Biden, the CBP One application, which allowed certain migrants to request asylum without needing to reach the border, was suddenly deactivated by the brand new administration. A message published on the program’s website, stating that the application would no longer work and that “existing appointments have been canceled”, plunged asylum seekers who were preparing to go to their interview into disarray, says NBC News.
“Policy of repression”
A few hours later, the Republican president “laid the foundations of its policy of repression in matters of immigration” promised during his campaign, note USA Today. In particular, he declared a state of emergency on the border with Mexico and ordered the American army to monitor it.
With the state of emergency, “All illegal entries will be stopped immediately and we will begin sending millions and millions of criminal aliens back to where they came from”Trump insisted during his inauguration speech. “I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country”he added.
During his campaign, the Republican also promised to launch an unprecedented program of deportations of undocumented immigrants from the first days of his mandate, criticizing the record of the Democratic administration. On Monday, migrant shelters in Tijuana, Mexico, located on the border with the United States, “were preparing for an influx of undocumented immigrants in the event that Donald Trump carried out his deportation plan”reports CNN. Associations fear a possible humanitarian crisis at the border, notes the American channel.
-A few days before Trump’s inauguration, the Wall Street Journal, citing four people familiar with the preparations, indicated that an operation was to begin Tuesday in Chicago and that the federal agency of Immigration and Customs (ICE) would deploy between 100 and 200 agents on site.
“Endless legal battles” on the horizon
On Monday evening, Trump signed another executive order revoking automatic soil rights for the children of illegal immigrants. He described this principle, provided for by the 14th amendment of the Constitution, as “ridicule” facing the press in the Oval Office. But the questioning of land law promises to be contested in court. For lawyers, this decision “radical goes against more than a century of legal precedent” and he is “unlikely to be found to be constitutionally compliant”, note it Washington Post.
According to the American daily, Trump’s collaborators indicated that “the strategy deployed by the administration” on this question is “to act quickly”even if this decision is contested because they believe that the progressive groups who oppose it will exhaust “their resources in the context of these endless legal battles” and that they will have to “face more conservative judges, including on the Supreme Court”, Donald Trump having worked extensively to appoint magistrates located on the right of the political spectrum during his previous mandate.
