Fixing the unmitigated disaster that has taken place at the U.S.-Mexico border over the past four years will likely take at least some cooperation from Congress. But just as Joe Biden acted unilaterally to undo former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, Trump would have the power to begin restoring border security soon after taking office should he win this November.
Here are eight key actions on the border that Americans might expect early on in a second Trump administration.
Restore “Remain in Mexico”
One of the most successful Trump border policies – and one of the first to go under Joe Biden – was “Remain in Mexico,” officially the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). This policy required individuals claiming asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border to wait in Mexico for the duration of their immigration proceedings rather than entering and staying in the United States.
In February 2021, Joe Biden ended Remain in Mexico, replacing it instead with “catch-and-release.” Now, migrants claiming asylum are released into the interior of the United States until their court dates – which are sometimes set up to 10 years or more in the future.
Perhaps more than any other single policy, the Biden-Harris catch-and-release scheme has directly contributed to the explosion of illegal aliens inside the United States. Unsurprisingly, asylum claims have skyrocketed, as the entire world now knows that all one has to do to gain entry into the United States is cross the border illegally and claim asylum – no matter how legitimate those claims are.
Reimplementing Remain in Mexico would send a signal to the world that the Biden-Harris asylum free ride is over. It would also immediately stop the flood of migrants entering the country via fraudulent asylum claims.
Reform the Broken Asylum System
Along with reinstituting Remain in Mexico, Trump could also reverse a slate of Biden actions that dramatically relaxed standards for being admitted into the United States under an asylum claim.
Specifically, Trump could reduce the number of asylum seekers allowed in. Last January, for instance, the Biden-Harris administration began granting 30,000 asylum claims per month to migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, and Nicaragua – all some of the most dangerous countries in the world. Trump could immediately rescind that order. Trump could also modify asylum eligibility criteria, which Biden has greatly expanded.
Restart Border Wall construction
On day one of his presidency, Biden halted construction of the Southern border wall and canceled contracts for further construction.
As he did in 2019, Trump could declare a national emergency on the Southern border on day one, unlocking funds for border security, including wall construction. The severity of the current crisis would appear to more than justify such an emergency declaration.
Reactivate Title 42 to combat fentanyl and public health threats
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump invoked Title 42, which allows U.S. authorities to expel migrants quickly at the border during a public health emergency. Another of Biden’s most infamous immigration policies was to end the use of Title 42 last year.
Now, Americans are facing a new kind of public health threat from the border – fentanyl, which killed 200 Americans per day in 2023. Upon taking the oath of office, Trump could quickly invoke Title 42 again, allowing Border Patrol to expel illegal aliens and stop the trafficking of deadly fentanyl into the United States.
Begin deportations
A key part of Trump’s re-election platform has been his promise for “the largest mass deportation program in American history.” On day one, Trump could direct Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to begin removing all illegal aliens with final orders of removal, criminal records, and those caught re-entering the country illegally. Ramping up interior enforcement will serve as a powerful deterrent to would-be illegal aliens.
Designate Mexican drug cartels as Transnational Criminal Organizations
Securing the border will require tough action against the Mexican drug cartels, who fuel both the drug crisis and human trafficking across the border. Designating the Mexican drug cartels as Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) would give the U.S. government more power to freeze cartel assets, impose sanctions, and target cartel leaders for prosecution. Additionally, it would allow U.S. law enforcement agencies to pursue criminal networks more aggressively both inside the U.S. and abroad.
Beyond legal and financial measures, this designation could lay the groundwork for increased military and intelligence operations against the cartels, either in collaboration with the Mexican government or, if necessary, independently.
End the CBP One app parole abuse scheme
In January 2023, the Biden-Harris administration rolled out the CBP One app, which has effectively become a tool for the federal government to parole mass numbers of illegal aliens into the country. Parole is supposed to be granted selectively on a case-by-case basis. The CBP One app has facilitated the entry of more than 170,000 individuals with virtually no vetting.
Furthermore, reporting from the Washington Examiner has found that Mexican cartels are using the app as a tool in their human trafficking operations.
On day one, Trump could end the use of the CBP One app and stop this egregious abuse of the parole system.
Demand cooperation from Mexico
During his first term, Trump successfully worked with Mexico to deploy thousands of troops to its northern and southern borders to control the flow of migrants. Trump achieved this by threatening tariffs on Mexican goods, a move that forced the Mexican government to cooperate on border security. While Biden has abandoned this approach, Trump has indicated he would again force Mexico to help the U.S. protect its border.
With strong political will behind it, these bold actions could quickly reshape the situation at the border and end four years of chaos.
Kate Schloss is a pen name of a writer living in our nation’s capital.
A good start! Next declare all U.S. debt currently held by China null and void to cover never repaid war time lend/lease debt, and reparations for COVID, and the fentanyl war they unleashed upon us, as well as China’s continued theft of U.S. intellectual property and technology, and their ongoing cyber attacks. Close all Confucius Institutes, Stop the China trade, seize all Chinese assets on U.S. soil, and deport all PRC citizens, to include students, many of whom already hold advanced degrees and are only here to steal American technology from current academic research projects so they can then reverse engineer them in China for their Army. Rebuild American manufacturing, switch the federal governments source of funding from U.S. income tax to tariffs on foreign goods exclusively; and pretty soon you’ll see a shrinking of global Chinese influence and you’ll really make America great again.
Please send this article to President Trump’s office immediately. Well written article. Thank you! Now we need to get this man reelected.
I love the way Trump works. Just do…and let the other side decide if they want to continue or stop!
I feel sane just thinking about the possibility.
Cutoff all the freebies. I’ll bet if the illegals knew there was nothing here for them, they’d stay home..And many here would go back voluntarily. Only allow anyone entry if they can speak English and have a job waiting.
Seal border
Bounty on gangs
Vigilantes
Armed citizens
Drones overhead armed
Automate processing more
Sensors in wall.
Minefield
Contrary to Kackler’s LIES, the border was in pretty good shape on 1/20/21! Joey Boy screwed it all up with his multiple executive orders and Kackler was there and complicit in all of it! Sex trafficking, drug trafficking, influx of immigrant gangs and killers–all on Kackler’s watch!
Clearly, President Trump is very direct in his communications. I’m in favor of the way he calls out “counterfeit candidates”, like Harris and her boisterous (and equally “imaginative”) running mate.
The fact that these two are serious contenders says something very unflattering about the awareness and intellect of our voters.
I will certainly vote for President Trump, and pray that these two delinquent teenagers don’t have success in November.
Of course Trump can do a lot when he is president. Biden Harris can do this too. But they won’t they need millions and millions of voters. And any failures they will call it “misinformation”. We see it every day with the FEMA failures. We see video after video of people suffering because FEMA has turned private organizations away. Rescue has to go in DEI fashion and according to EPA guidelines. No helicopters to gas powered chainsaws. No going around “road closed signs”. Excuse me the people hanging from trees and on roof tops don’t care about pollution at that time. It is just the current administration doesn’t care about our citizens. Harris tried to make it political in Florida with lies only Biden cut her off at the knees. By supporting DeSantis. Maybe he’ll do something presidential just before the election and close the border and deport all those here illegally. We can hope, without it we are lost as a country and a people.
None of it would be needed had we lived in a sane world. Remain in Mexico would be probably good enough because I can’t imagine Mexicans allowing them to enter and I don’t think they would worry about “rights”
ARE WE GIVEN MONIES TO OTHER COUNTRIES THAT THESE ILLEGALS ARE COMING FROM.WHAT LAWS ARE BEING BROKEN UNDER THE CONSTITUTION BY BIDEN AND HARRIS?
Haul them home and dump them. Kyle L.
Declare the gangs terrorists. The law then states they can be shot on the spot. Shoot a few and I guarantee things will change.
Good sense and honorable ideas in this article. All of the policies listed are for the betterment of the United States of America . This article is appreciated , it promotes intelligent thinking , and moral decision making . The National Character will be enhanced with the improvements made on the border issues. Well done Kate , this is a spirit lifter for sure , knowing how it will be possible to fix. the border situation .
Almost enough. Make it a crime for aiding the illegals with employment, housing or food and the ones caught doing it deported also. Citizen or not.
My opinion only: Start a media blitz outlining all of these goals, starting with the Remain in Mexico policy. Have these broadcast each day for 5 days. Then go to the next one and so on. Even the dumbest voter would make the connection. Excellent article by the way.
Deportation will be a major challenge. The ILLEGAL ALIENS reside mostly in sanctuary cities. Remember when the liberal mayor of Oakland, CA broadcasted a leaked notice that ICE was going to sweep the area to deport illegals? They had enough time to hide. That’s what we’re going to see more of.
Kate: You missed a number of things that could be done. 1) eliminate “birthright citizenship”. 2) Eliminate “free phones”. 3) Eliminate “free healthcare”. 4) Eliminate “free housing”. 5) Eliminate “free welfare” they haven’t paid into. 6) Give ILLEGAL ALIENS “NOTHING”, with one exception and that would be a “FREE” ride to the southern tip of South America. AND then maybe we wouldn’t need to spend billions of dollars building a wall and paying people to parole every 500 yards of the border!! SAME goes for the northern border!
First and foremost for all of this to happen – EVERYONE MUST GET OUT AND VOTE! NO EXCUSES!
Biden/Harris is a DISASTER and a Harris/Walz would be another DISASTER. VOTE TRUMP 2024!!!
in other words, enforcing immigration laws on the books combined with undoing everything Biden and Harris did along with voting out of office every single politician whose idea of “comprehensive immigration reform” is nothing more than mass amnesty for every single migrant who BROKE OUR LAWS when they came here.
They (the Democrats) have already set the historic precedent of indicting a previous president (Trump) upon departing office! The Biden administration willfully and knowingly violated this country’s immigration laws and placed every single American in very serious danger, as well as diminishing this nations sovereignty and wellbeing overall! He (Biden) as well as others in his orbit should be indicted immediately upon leaving office! This was nothing short of willful intention to destroy the United States by people in trusted positions of power! Unless they are made to pay a price for their subversion and frankly treason, this will happen repeatedly, again and again until there is no more United States! And Harris? Don’t even get me started!
The US military needs to wipe out the Mexican Cartels like we did ISIS. That will be the only way to end the fentanyl coming across the border, along with a lot of other drugs. Since the cartels are clearly working with China to undermine US society from the inside, we have all the legal reason we need to send our military in to wipe them out. This is nothing more than a plot to poison military aged Americans. That would also justify permanently stationing our military along the southern border. If the Mexican government has a problem with it, what are they going to do about it? Invade Texas? We ran them out of Texas once, and I bet the civilians in Texas alone could run them out again.
We also need to let civilians fight and kill these illegal immigrant gangs taking over apartment complexes in towns. That just plain won’t happen in states/cities where the citizens still have their 2nd Amendment rights. Come try that in my town, we’ll get some free live target practice.
If Trump is not elected, and also takes office, we will either have to fight or lose everything. There is only one way to remove a socialist government once it gets into power. And it’s not with Ballots, it takes another “B” word to do that…….we better have a lot of them.
Someone should tell Kamala she could have Joe do all these things NOW! Too busy anyhow smoozing with Whoopie and Howie I suppose…
One of my top wishes would be to confiscate all property held by citizens of countries that do not allow us to own land in their countries. Like China…and get rid of all people here without an invitation. And stop sending money to countries that hate us. And no more neighborhoods where the police or other citizens can’t go without being harassed and attacked by foreigners who won’t become Americans. Accept our ways or get out.
Cut off all federal funding to sanctuary cities, states, and NGO’s that harbor these criminals. With out the free benefits they will leave on their own.
All of these Actions will start to heal our great Country from Biden’s disastrous Administration.
He could casually mention the late tom clancys book ‘Clear and Present Danger’ to the commie in charge of mexicos surrender to the cartels. Anyone who read the book will know what i mean.
another option would be a no bag limit, open season. just a thought
Ten four brother.
Reaper drones loaded with pepper balls would stop all illegal crossings.
Biden and Harris are guilty of TREASON. No trial necessary because the evidence is everywhere and in plain view all over America. Put both of them in jail for the rest of their traitorous lives. Case closed!
Any by birth citizenship issued to illegal or any tourist visa holder must be revoked.
Open up our pipelines should be the second thing Trump does. Great article, too.
For starters, wouldn’t it be as simple as reissuing his 94 Executive Orders that Zhou Bai Dun and Heels-Up-Harris cancelled on day 1 of their regime?!
Yes !!! ????????????????
Go {TRUMP””)) !!! ????????????
Lets make- ( America ) Great Again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Criminalize “Sanctuary” cities, counties, states. Prosecute the officials enabling them.
Prosecute officials openly defying US laws, for example, refusing to cooperate with ICE
Another idea would be to send all military age illegal aliens to Ukraine to bolster Ukraine’s manpower in fighting the Russians, and have Zelenskyy pay for the flights. I’d say that 20+ million additional men in arms would be a huge help to them and could also send a message to Putin. Of course, I bet Zelenskyy would politely decline the offer!
I’d close any Military base still operating in the Middle East, bring them all home then establish those bases at home and along the Mexican Border. Our Troops will be home and could use the desert areas and terrain for training and close and protect the border at the same time. Our Military’s advanced equipment would come in handy seeing Illegals trying to sneak across the border and detect tunnels from Mexico into the U.S.
one most important thing to do is, force every employer to register illegal employee with White House within 2 weeks. Failure to do that will be criminal penalty, loose of license and total revenue earned since 2020.
any doctor/hospital who is providing birth support to illegals/ tourist visa etc.. must report within week. Those women must be provided humanitarian support on some other country to avoid giving free citizenship and finally deported.but those doctors face harsher penalties than normal employers.
Great article, this is a keeper. Something to refer to when Trump returns to office.
Cut off ALL aid and there will be nothing here for them. This will start a mass exodus.
I think this article is a great start to fixing what is wrong with our country. I also agree with veteran on his comment about China. Maybe also fix the economy, and lower housing costs, along with food costs and the price of gas and electricity.
The elephant in the room is how to punish the thousands of treasonous lawbreakers and enablers that made the invasion of America possible. There has to be justice otherwise all those who have made this horrific invasion possible will continue to profit and will be emboldened to pursue the same criminal activity into the future. That would be the whole Democrat party. Time to declare them illegal, treasonous, and banned from any future political activity.
Another big step to take is get the UN out of the US, and the US out of the UN, WEF, and WHO! Cut that funding off immediately!
President Trump cannot waste 1 minute starting to close the southern border. The insanity must stop. If he is not restored to office we are doomed. So much damage has already been done it will take some time to clean the mess up.
Blueprint for relief!
If you want to get somebody’s attention absolutely close the border to all (cartels included) and post CBP staff all along (since they won’t be busy doing illegal crossing paperwork) to perform their duties. Make crossing the border illegally a capital crime commensurate to invasion. Once done, ferret out all of the illegals from the past 12 years and deport them or send them to places they wouldn’t want to be. Recall Australia was penal colony and now is one of our best allies. If you follow the rules, you’re welcome to come here.
National Guard
Once criminals etc. have been deported, all illegal entrants must be located, taken into ICE custody and transported out of our nation. Tough and bold deportation. No excuses- just do it. Save the little violins.
LIVE ROUNDS. An invasion like this requires a military response. Anyone who attempts to enter our country illegally should face an armed response. You cross our border illegally and you will be shot!!!! The liberals will scream and cry and wring their hands but it will only have to be done once or twice before the illegals and the cartels get the message. Harsh? Yes, but the illegal crossings will stop immediately because they will learn that trying to sneak into our country is the same as committing suicide.