What are Trump’s Day One plans for immigration enforcement?

Bangkok Post Group

Donald Trump is likely to take many executive actions on his first day as president to ramp up immigration enforcement and roll back signature Biden legal entry programs, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. - REUTERS

Transcript

00:00Donald Trump is expected to take a slew of executive actions on his first day as

00:05president to ramp up immigration enforcement and roll back legal entry

00:10programs, according to three sources who spoke with Reuters. Here's what the

00:14president-elect could do once he takes office. Executive actions proposed by

00:18Trump would give federal immigration officers more latitude to arrest people

00:23with no criminal records, surge troops to the US-Mexico border, and restart

00:28construction of the border wall. Trump is also expected to end President Joe

00:32Biden's humanitarian programs that allowed hundreds of thousands of

00:36migrants to enter legally in recent years and could encourage those with

00:40expired statuses to leave voluntarily. Migrant arrests reached a record during

00:45Biden's presidency, straining US border enforcement. But illegal crossings fell

00:50dramatically this year as Biden instituted new border restrictions and

00:54Mexico stepped up enforcement. The US Department of Homeland Security

00:58estimated there were 11 million immigrants without legal status in 2022,

01:03a figure that may have increased. Trump said Tom Homan would become his

01:07border czar. The former acting director of US Immigration and Customs

01:11Enforcement from 2017 to 2018 under Trump is expected to play a central role

01:17in Trump's plan for border security. Stephen Miller, architect of Trump's

01:21restrictive first term immigration agenda, is set to return as a deputy

01:26chief of staff for policy. And Reuters reported that Trump plans to nominate

01:30South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to become secretary of the U.S. Department

01:35of Homeland Security. The agency's sprawling mission includes border

01:39security. She took a hardline stance on illegal immigration and made several

01:43trips in recent years to the US-Mexico border, which she called a war zone in

01:48January. Sources have told Reuters that Trump intends to scrap Biden

01:52administration guidance that prioritize people with serious criminal records

01:57for deportation and limited enforcement against non criminals. The Trump border

02:01would call for deportations to prioritize people charged with felonies

02:06and people who have exhausted their legal avenues to remain. But the order

02:10would not restrict officers from picking up other potentially deportable

02:14immigrants. Trump's transition effort remains in its early stages and plans

02:19could change before his inauguration on January 20th. A Trump spokesperson did

02:24not respond to a request for comment.

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