(The Center Square) – Of the many executive orders President Donald Trump has issued, including declaring a national emergency and an invasion at the southwest border, two outline his plan to implement a plan to retain operational control of U.S. borders, including involving the military.
As commander in chief, Trump issued an executive order that clarifies “the military’s role in protecting the territorial integrity of the United States” along its borders.
The military has long played “an established role in securing our borders against threats of invasion, against unlawful forays by foreign nationals into the United States, and against other transnational criminal activities that violate our laws and threaten the peace, harmony, and tranquility of the Nation,” the order states. “Threats against our Nation’s sovereignty continue today, and it is essential that the Armed Forces staunchly continue to participate in the defense of our territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
“Unchecked unlawful mass migration and the unimpeded flow of opiates across our borders” over the last four years “continue to endanger the safety and security of the American people and encourage further lawlessness,” the order states.
The order directs the Secretary of Defense to revise the Unified Command Plan to assign United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) to “seal the borders and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States by repelling forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities.”
USNORTHCOM is tasked with continuously assessing all available options to repel mass unlawful entry “and impingement on our national sovereignty and security by foreign nations and transnational criminal organizations.”
The secretary must receive a plan within 30 days of the effective date of the order.
In another executive order, Trump outlined efforts to obtain “complete operational control of the borders of the United States.”
Obtaining operational control of all U.S. borders is necessary in response to “a large-scale invasion at an unprecedented level,” the order says.
Over the last four years, “millions of illegal aliens from nations and regions all around the world successfully entered the United States where they are now residing, including potential terrorists, foreign spies, members of cartels, gangs, and violent transnational criminal organizations, and other hostile actors with malicious intent” with limited information on their precise whereabouts.
Trump’s stated policy is “to take all appropriate action to secure the borders of our Nation.”
This includes continuing to build a physical wall and other barriers monitored and supported by adequate personnel and technology; deterring and preventing illegal entry; detaining, to the maximum extent under the law, apprehended illegal foreign nationals who allegedly violated federal or state law until they are removed from the U.S.; removing all illegal border crossers “who enter or remain in violation of Federal law;” pursuing criminal charges “against illegal aliens who violate the immigration laws, and against those who facilitate their unlawful presence in the United States;” directing federal agencies to fully cooperate with state and local law enforcement officials.
The directives are specified in greater detail in other orders he issued, including directives to implement a mass deportation plan, designate cartels and violent gangs as foreign terrorist organizations, implement stronger vetting and screening processes, surge maritime and Coast Guard resources, and prosecute human smuggling, human trafficking, child trafficking, and sex trafficking among other border-related crimes.
The secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security are directed to “deploy and construct temporary and permanent physical barriers to ensure complete operational control of the southern border of the United States” and deploy personnel to achieve operational control.
The order reinstated the Migrant Protection Protocols and terminated a phone app on Trump’s first day in office. It also terminated all categorical parole programs created by the Biden administration, including the Central American Minors Parole Program, and parole programs for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV); and Colombians, Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Hondurans.
More than 3 million were reported to have illegally entered the U.S. from CHNV countries, more than 2.5 million from four Central American countries, at least 1.6 million from countries of foreign concern, The Center Square reported.