Former President Donald Trump, should he return to the White House, intends to implement a comprehensive, unprecedented approach to securing the southern border and curtailing the migrant crisis that has existed under President Joe Biden, Axios reported.
Completing construction of the border wall, a key campaign issue in 2016, would be just a small part of Trump's immigration plan should he win next year's presidential election. He's currently the leading contender by a wide margin for the Republican presidential nomination.
"For those passionate about securing our immigration system ... the first 100 days of the Trump administration will be pure bliss — followed by another four years of the most hard-hitting action conceivable," Trump adviser Stephen Miller told Axios.
Trump's plan would include relying on Mexico to restart the "Remain in Mexico" policy, which forced asylum seekers to wait south of the border for their court hearings, and trying to reimpose Title 42, the public health order used during the pandemic, to fight child trafficking.
However, Trump's plan to secure the southern border and stop the flow of illegal migrants and drugs into the U.S. also would include:
- Designating drug cartels as "unlawful enemy combatants" to allow the U.S. military to target them in Mexico.
- Using the Navy and Coast Guard in the waters off the U.S. and Latin America to stop drug smuggling boats.
- Deporting migrant gang members and other criminals by using a section of the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts.
- Enforcing U.S. law that blocks communists from entering for decades. Trump wants to reject applicants considered "Marxists."
- Banning people from certain countries, especially those whose citizens have high rates of staying in the U.S. illegally after their visas expire. Under the Trump administration, people from more than a dozen mostly Muslim or African countries were prevented from entering.
- Trying to end birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants.
Axios added that Trump also would extend Texas' floating barriers in the Rio Grande and complete the wall along the 1,954-mile southern border. Roughly 452 miles of fencing was installed under the Trump administration.
Trump's plan for enhanced screening of immigration applicants' ideologies would involve searching their social media accounts, a source told Axios.
The former president also wants to force some migrants to pay bonds to enter the U.S., and require people seeking to enter the country to prove they can afford health insurance, the outlet reported.
Trump and his team are pointing to two sections of U.S. law to justify several plans. The laws include Section 212f of the U.S. code, which grants the president broad power to "suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants" if their entry "would be detrimental to the interests of the United States," and the Alien Enemies Act, part of the Alien and Sedition Acts signed by President John Adams in 1798.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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