President Trump Unleashes a Wave of Presidential Orders Targeting Immigration
US President Donald J Trump at Inauguration
By Fatoumata Jaiteh
In his quest to confront immigration and border issues, newly inaugurated President Donald Trump unleashed a wave of presidential orders soon after his inauguration on 20th January 2025. The list of presidential orders signed by President Trump is quite vast, but here are three focused on the President’s obsession with immigration, which has seen thousands of military personnel converge at the southern border with Mexico and the resumption of more walls to be constructed along the southern border.
The Presidential Orders are named with invective words such as “Protecting the American People against Invasion, Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern Border of the United States, and Securing Our Borders,” to name a few.
According to the presidential order aimed at “protecting the American people against invasion,” “over the last 4 years, the prior administration invited, administered, and oversaw an unprecedented flood of illegal immigration into the United States. Millions of illegal aliens crossed our borders or were permitted to fly directly into the United States on commercial flights and allowed to settle in American communities, in violation of longstanding Federal laws.”
“Many of these aliens unlawfully within the United States present significant threats to national security and public safety, committing vile and heinous acts against innocent Americans. Others are engaged in hostile activities, including espionage, economic espionage, and preparations for terror-related activities. Many have abused the generosity of the American people, and their presence in the United States has cost taxpayers billions of dollars at the Federal, State, and local levels,” says President Trump’s presidential order.
Speaking at his inauguration, President Trump stated that the Biden Leadership “has given unlimited funding to the defense of foreign borders, but refuses to defend American borders or more importantly, its own people.”
According to the presidential order, which declares a national emergency at the southern border with Mexico, “America’s sovereignty is under attack. Our southern border is overrun by cartels, criminal gangs, known terrorists, human traffickers, smugglers, unvetted military-age males from foreign adversaries, and illicit narcotics that harm Americans, including America.”
“This invasion has caused widespread chaos and suffering in our country over the last 4 years. It has led to the horrific and inexcusable murders of many innocent American citizens, including women and children, at the hands of illegal aliens. Foreign criminal gangs and cartels have begun seizing control of parts of cities, attacking our most vulnerable citizens, and terrorizing Americans beyond the control of local law enforcement. Cartels control vast territories just south of our southern border, effectively controlling who can and cannot travel to the United States from Mexico. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have tragically died from drug overdoses because of the illicit narcotics that have flowed across the southern border” read the presidential order.
As part of the presidential order, President Trump has started deploying thousands of military personnel to the southern border to continue his obsession to erect more physical barriers and unleash more unmanned aerial systems commonly referred to as drones, which have been used in the past to attack and kill targets remotely.
This presidential order will also see the revision of laws and the prioritisation of actions that will “prioritize the impedance and denial of the unauthorized physical entry of aliens across the southern border of the United States, and to ensure that use of force policies prioritize the safety and security of Department of Homeland Security personnel and of members of the Armed Forces.”
More Askanwi publications will interrogate President Trump’s presidential orders on immigration and refugees.
