With a couple strokes of his pen, President
Trump wiped out almost all of President Obama’s immigration policies Wednesday, laying the groundwork for his own border wall, unleashing immigration agents to enforce the law and punishing sanctuary cities who try to thwart his deportation surge.
Left untouched, for now, is the 2012 deportation amnesty for so-called Dreamers.
But most of the other policies, including Mr. Obama’s “priorities” protecting almost all illegal immigrants from deportation, are gone. In their place are a series of directives that would free agents to enforce stiff laws well beyond the border, that would encourage Mexico to try to control the flow of people coming through the southwestern border, and would push back on loopholes illegal immigrants have learned to exploit to gain a foothold in the U.S.
“From here on out I’m asking all of you to enforce the laws of the Untied States of America — they will be enforced, and enforced strongly,”
Mr. Trump said as he visited the Homeland Security Department’s headquarters. “We do not need new laws. We will work within the existing system and framework.”
He also called for tripling the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents — his promised “deportation force” — to go after illegal immigrants in the interior.
Mr. Trump doesn’t break new legal ground, but instead pushes immigration agents to flex the tools Congress has already given them over the years to enforce existing laws. The goal, both sides of the debate said, is to push the U.S. border further south, including attempting to enlist Mexico as a partner, willing or not.
Immigrant-rights advocates planned a rally outside the White House to protest the moves, saying existing U.S. laws are broken and can’t be enforced. They’ve pushed for a complete overhaul and a redo that would grant most illegal immigrants already in the U.S. legal status.
In the meantime, the groups have asked the federal government to severely curtail — or in some cases to halt altogether — deportations.
On Wednesday, the groups vowed resistance to
Mr. Trump’s policies, urging local officials to brave
Mr. Trump’s threat to withdraw federal funding from sanctuary cities, and calling on immigrants themselves to rally.
“Those who are targeted by
Trump and those that love us must protect ourselves and each other in these times,” said Tania Unzueta, policy director at Mijente, an advocacy group.
Mr. Trump signed two executive orders. One deals with the border, while the other encourages interior enforcement.
The orders would use existing federal laws to encourage foreign governments to take back their own illegal immigrants. Tens of thousands of criminals are released on U.S. streets because their home countries are refusing to take them. Cuba is the worst offender, with nearly 30,000.
Countries that refuse will see their visas stripped.
The Obama administration was reluctant to use that tool, pulling the trigger only once, in its waning days, with the Gambia.
On sanctuary cities,
Mr. Trump said he would try to dry up federal money that flows to jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with immigration agents. Hundreds of counties and cities have policies protecting illegal immigrants, to varying degrees, that their own authorities encounter.
The White House said the executive order calls on new Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly and the new attorney general to see what money can be cut off.
Overall, the orders try to create a tougher barrier — both physically and legally — for illegal immigrants trying to cross the southwest border.
Part of that is
Mr. Trump’s wall, which the White House said the U.S. will foot the bill for — at least for now. But White House press secretary Sean Spicer insisted that “yes, one way or another, has the president has said before, Mexico will pay for it.”
The new executive orders push Homeland Security to “immediately plan, design and construct a physical wall along the southwest border.” The order says to use “appropriate materials” — which seems to suggest fencing, rather than an actual wall, could be used.
Beyond the wall,
Mr. Trump’s orders seem designed to stop the loopholes that have emerged in recent years that allow illegal immigrants to come to the border, be caught, then released into the interior of the U.S.
Mr. Trump also called for a surge in detention facilities, so illegal immigrants can be held rather than released.
And one striking part of his orders would tap a little-known part of immigration law that allows illegal immigrants to be shipped outside the U.S. while their deportation cases go through the courts. That could be a severe deterrent to migrants, who currently make the journey with the belief that even if they are apprehended, they will be released into the U.S., where they can disappear into the shadows.
Mr. Trump campaigned on getting a handle on illegal immigration, running the strictest enforcement campaign of any major-party nominee in modern history.
His orders Wednesday are large steps toward his promises, though he did not revoke the 2012 deportation amnesty known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Under that policy, more than 750,000 “Dreamers,” or young adult illegal immigrants, have gained tentative legal status.
They are the most sympathetic cases in the immigration debate, and despite
Mr. Trump’s promise to cancel the policy on “day one,” he has put it off.
Still, immigrant-rights groups said the steps
Mr. Trump has taken were bad enough for the people they represent.
“These policies are a flagrant attack on immigrants and our values as Americans,” said Beth Werlin, executive director of the American Immigration Council. “Our laws dictate that everyone receives a just and fair process, whether they have been in this country for decades or are arriving today in search of safety and protection.”
