WASHINGTON/PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico, Jan 21 — President Donald Trump on Monday kicked off his sweeping immigration crackdown, tasking the US military with aiding border security, issuing a broad ban on asylum and taking steps to restrict citizenship for children born on US soil.
Declaring illegal immigration a national emergency, Trump ordered the Pentagon to provide support for border wall construction, detention space, and migrant transportation, and empowered the secretary of Defense to send troops to the border as needed.
Trump called for his administration to reinstate his “remain in Mexico” program, which forced non-Mexican migrants to wait in Mexico for the resolution of their US cases.
Shortly after the inauguration, US border authorities said they had shut down outgoing President Joe Biden’s CBP One entry program, which had allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants to enter the US legally by scheduling an appointment on an app. Existing appointments were canceled, leaving migrants stunned and unsure of what to do.
Trump, a Republican, recaptured the White House after promising to intensify border security and deport record numbers of migrants. Trump criticised Biden for high levels of illegal immigration during the Democrat’s presidency, but as Biden toughened his policies last year and Mexico stepped up enforcement, the number of migrants caught crossing illegally fell dramatically.
Republicans say large-scale deportations are necessary after millions of immigrants crossed illegally during Biden’s presidency. There were roughly 11 million immigrants in the US illegally or with a temporary status at the start of 2022, according to a US government estimate, a figure that some analysts now place at 13 million to 14 million.
“As commander-in-chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions, and that is exactly what I am going to do,” Trump said in his inaugural address.
Trump‘s critics and immigrant advocates say mass deportations could disrupt businesses, split families and cost US taxpayers billions of dollars.
On a separate matter, the US will exit the World Health Organisation, Trump said yesterday, saying the global health agency had mishandled the Covid-19 pandemic and other international health crises.
Trump said the WHO had failed to act independently from the “inappropriate political influence of WHO member states” and required “unfairly onerous payments” from the US that are disproportionate to the sums provided by other, larger countries, such as China.
“World Health ripped us off, everybody rips off the United States. It’s not going to happen anymore,” Trump said at the signing of an executive order on the withdrawal, shortly after his inauguration to a second term.
The WHO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The move means the US will leave the United Nations health agency in 12 months’ time and stop all financial contributions to its work. The United States is by far the WHO’s biggest financial backer, contributing around 18 per cent of its overall funding. WHO’s most recent two-year budget, for 2024–2025, was US$6.8 billion (RM30 billion).
— Reuters