Donald Trump Activates Immigration Overhaul

It’s the first of two days of symbolic action to keep true to his signature campaign promise.

By David Catanese | Senior Politics Writer Jan. 25, 2017, at 4:21 p.m.

Donald Trump Activates Immigration Overhaul


President Donald Trump signed an executive order that set funding in motion for the construction of a wall on the Mexican border on Wednesday. Shawn Thew/Getty Images

It was the marquee promise of his campaign, the clarion call that kickstarted his disruptive candidacy and provided it with an enduring rationale that millions of Americans latched onto.

And on Wednesday, the fifth day of his presidency, Donald Trump took the initial steps to make good on his hallowed pledge, signing an executive order that set funding in motion for the construction of a "large physical barrier" on the Mexican border, more commonly known as "the wall."

"Beginning today the United States of America gets back control of its borders," President Trump said in an address at the Department of Homeland Security.

A 14-foot high steel wall marked the U.S.-Mexican border in Naco, Arizona | In 2006, U.S. News staff photographer Jim Lo Scalzo drove along the U.S.-Mexico border, chronicling the would-be site of a 700-mile-long fence proposed in the Secure Fence Act, which was signed into law by George W. Bush. Much of the fence has been built but the border remains in the news. Ten years later, as the 2016 presidential election has renewed talk of a wall along the southern border, we take a look back at the imposing landscape before the fence. (Jim Lo Scalzo for USN&WR)

The first order also ends the "catch-and-release" policy revived by former President Barack Obama's administration that permitted the discharge of undocumented workers taken into custody while they waited for a judicial hearing. It requests 5,000 additional officers to patrol the border.

A second executive order signed by the president aims to activate funding for deportations of those in the country illegally and seeks to strip federal grant money from "sanctuary cities," where people in the country illegally are protected by local governments. It asks for a tripling of immigration enforcement officers.

"As we've said repeatedly, we're going to get the bad ones out," the president said. "The day is over where they can stay in our country and wreak havoc. We're going to get them out and we're going to get them out fast."

During a week packed with a flurry of presidential action – from pumping the brakes on multilateral trade deals, halting U.S. taxpayer money for abortions abroad and instituting an executive branch hiring freeze – this was perhaps the most symbolically important move to Trump supporters, who were animated by his controversial, bold but unwavering call to bolster the country's security.

Taken together, it is the first of two days of sweeping action on immigration policy, which was the heart of Trump's White House candidacy.

"I'd never thought I'd live in fortress America," says Tom Ridge, a former homeland security secretary under President George W. Bush. "But there's enough frustration that something as dramatic as this can be embraced. It'll have a psychological impact. It'll have a physical impact. I prefer a president who'll tear down a wall rather than build one, but he's determined to build it."

The goal is to stem the flow of drugs, weapons, bad actors and terrorists from easily pouring over the southern border and committing crimes in the U.S. On Thursday, Trump is expected to go even further with an eye overseas, restricting travel from a host of Muslim-majority countries, including Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. White House press secretary Sean Spicer only obliquely referenced the targets on Wednesday, characterizing them as people who come into the country raising "a higher degree of concern."

Even Trump's own selection to lead the Department of Homeland Security, John Kelly, has said he does not believe it is appropriate to use religion as the sole factor in counterterrorism tactics. But the Trump administration is likely to use careful language that steers clear of mentioning Muslims and instead pinpoints countries that have showed hostility to the U.S. or clear connections to international terrorism.

Taking even limited action on his campaign pledge to institute a temporary ban on Muslims will provoke the most hardened and emotional opposition, even potentially from members of his own party.

The wall itself is also a polarizing symbol for many Democrats and immigration activists, but it remains unclear exactly how it will be accomplished, given the amount of funding required.

It's been a decade since President Bush signed a measure authorizing the construction of a fence along 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, but congressional amendments gave the Department of Homeland Security wide discretion over how to proceed. And for the most part, the project stalled during the Obama years.

The success of Trump's wall will be dependent on clear legislative language and congressional funding that could amount to anywhere between $15 billion and $25 billion.

One section of Trump's order directs agency department heads to identify all sources of funding provided to Mexico over the past five years, a veiled reference at the economic leverage the administration wields over the country.

Trump has said repeatedly Mexico will eventually reimburse the U.S. for the cost, but many critics are dubious that will occur. Additionally, any wall will face logistical hurdles, given the rugged, uneven terrain on the border. While Trump characterized the wall's construction as "immediate," Kelly said during his confirmation hearing that it may not be built anytime soon.

"I don't think he can do much more than that without seeking funds from Congress," says Steve Yale-Loehr, a professor of Immigration Practice at Cornell Law School. "If it's a question of more secure fencing, making it harder to get in, I think that is likely to happen.

But are we going to see a 20-foot concrete wall along the southern border? I doubt it."



Trump: Wall Construction to Begin ‘In Months'

While Trump's proposed ban of foreigners is likely to be the most encompassing in history, presidents often invoke existing immigration statute to deny a particular group entry to the U.S.

In 2016, Obama suspended entry into the U.S. of noncitizens who have engaged in, directly or indirectly, "actions that threaten the peace, security, or stability of Libya."

Before that, he suspended the entry of any noncitizens who supplied materials to North Korea's nuclear or missile programs. In 2007, President Bush suspended Lebanese or Syrian officials who contributed to the breakdown of rule in law in Lebanon.

Barring an entire country of citizens from entering the U.S. would be an unprecedented use of that provision, according to Yale-Loehr.

"This would be the largest scale," he says.

The Trump administration is still wrestling with how it plans to deal with the so-called "Dreamers," those in a program that allows people who entered the country illegally as a minor to remain here with a work permit.

But in a signal that Trump may be softening his position, Spicer told reporters in the White House briefing room that "his priority is first and foremost people who are in this country who seek to do us harm."

While Democrats largely remain opposed to all of Trump's measures, they initially appeared to focus on his foreign restrictions, an indication that enhanced border security – if not the wall, specifically – is a popular position with many of their constituents.

In her weekly press briefing, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said any potential constraints on accepting foreign refugees would fall outside the American value system, but she also acknowledged public support for a part of Trump's approach.

"Some of what he says will have its popular appeal because the immigration was an issue that fueled the flame in his campaign," she said.