Former President Donald Trump has made a bold promise, stating that if re-elected, he will execute the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history.” Drawing inspiration from President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s tough stance on border security, Trump emphasized the current need for stringent measures to curb illegal immigration.
In Wednesday’s speech in Iowa, Trump explained, “Eisenhower was very tough under the border. People don’t see him as that, but he was. We’ll carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.” He further pledged to immediately invoke the Alien Enemies Act to eliminate all known or suspected gang members from the country.
Pointing towards the threat posed by MS-13, which he described as “the worst gangs in the world,” Trump vowed to eradicate the menace of illegal alien gang violence once and for all.
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During the Trump administration, the MS-13 gang became a focal point in discussions about immigration and border security. Trump frequently referred to the gang to highlight what he saw as the dangers of lax immigration policies.
The “Alien Enemies Act,” part of Trump’s future plan, was enacted as part of the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798. The specific act granted the U.S. government additional powers to regulate non-citizens, which would be activated during times of war. Under the provisions of this act, the president could authorize the arrest, relocation, or deportation of any non-citizen male residing in the United States who was 14 years or older.
Trump’s comments come at a timely moment. Per CBP data cited by NBC News, border officials had a staggering encounter with almost 10,000 migrants in just one day on Sunday. The breakdown of the encounters includes 1,800 in Rio Grande Valley, Texas; 1,600 in Del Rio, Texas; 1,500 in Tucson, Arizona, and upwards of 1,000 in El Paso, Texas.
The surge in border crossings has been consistent throughout September, showing a marked increase after a period of relative calm during the summer. However, the current numbers are still lower than the record set in May, which saw 10,000 encounters in a single day.
The Biden administration had previously pointed to the reduced numbers during the summer as evidence of the effectiveness of its border policies.
As a result, on Wednesday Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the reinstallation of a razor wire fence in Eagle Pass after a previous fence was cut down by federal officials. The Lonestar State has repeatedly clashed with the Biden Administration over its right to secure the border.
“Texas installed razor wire in Eagle Pass to stop illegal crossings. Today the Biden Admin CUT that wire, opening the floodgates to illegal immigrants,” Abbott wrote in a social media post on Wednesday. “I immediately deployed more Texas National Guard to repel illegal crossings & install more razor wire.”
The latest clash between Texas and the federal government comes as yet another sprawling caravan of illegal aliens has amassed at the border. Despite claims from the Biden Administration that the flow of migrants has been slowed, images from key border crossings unequivocally refute those statements.
“It’s a total free for all in Eagle Pass right now. Mass illegal crossing taking place for over an hour and a half. Almost 2 years to the day we saw 15,000+ Haitians under the bridge in Del Rio, we now have thousands of predominantly Venezuelans gathering under Eagle Pass bridge,” Fox News reporter Bill Melugin reported.
Governor Abbott has repeatedly deployed members of the Texas National Guard to help with the situation at the border. Texas and other border states have also started the process of shipping illegal aliens to “sanctuary cities” and states, which defy federal immigration law by refusing to cooperate with ICE and housing migrants.
Last month, a federal judge ordered Texas to remove razor-wire buoys from the Rio Grande River that have been used as a barrier to halt the flow. A U.S. appeals court later overruled the lower court and allowed Texas to keep the barrier in place.