President Trump’s Executive Orders

Tackling border security and other like-minded executive
orders designed to alter immigration

By Rita Cook
Correspondent
Texas Metro News

President Donald Trump wasted no time when it came to making good on the border patrol promises he touted to his supporter’s pre-election.

On January 20, the same day he was sworn in, Trump signed an executive order “Securing Our Borders #14165.”

The purpose of this executive order was to end the bleeding blamed on the previous administration’s actions.

While the influx of migrants entering the U.S. has been bipartisanly accepted as excessive, it never seemed the “powers that be” could produce a true number of how many entered at any given time.

This was likely due to factors including those entering not properly processed, the thousands of “got aways” and those entering by invitation only airplanes, as an example.

It seemed out of control when for example, the Washington Examiner reported that more than six million illegal immigrants had come across the border from 2021 to March 2024 and stated it was a fact because Federal Police arrested them.

Over the years as the border became increasingly insecure, numbers were reported as processing at least 2.3 million allowed access into the United States and 2.8 million removed or expelled, to other claims as high as 8 million coming in or, there was Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton’s declaring of 10 million.

By election day it was an issue in conversation on both sides of the aisle. When January 20 rolled around “Secure Our Borders” was one executive order the entire country could “almost agree with,” in order to stop the border violence.

We know at least seven young women from around the country were brutally murdered by men known as illegal and dangerous before Trump took office. Securing the border could have saved their lives if the murderers had not been allowed to re-enter or freely roam the U.S.

The most well-known murder was Laken Riley, but she was not the only victim. There was also the apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado (and possibly others around the country) taken over by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua where violence became the norm.

We also heard stories of those coming to America and receiving free hotel rooms (as in New York when they refused to leave the luxury rooms for less snazzy accommodations), free phones, free health insurance and loaded credit cards on which illegal migrants were given thousands of dollars.

What a slap in the face to Americans not receiving that same help.

Trump’s number one answer to secure the border was to shut the border, an elementary solution.

The U.S. CBPOne app, offered to all the people wanting to enter the U.S. as of January 2023 was halted. It had already allowed nearly 1 million to enter the country just at the Mexico/US land crossings, based on government numbers.

These were the migrants who used the app, got the free stuff, and were given notice to appear in immigration court in a certain number of years from the date of entry.

As part of his safer border executive order, Trump also ended a policy to allow over half-a-million people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to fly to the U.S. on two-year permits with a financial sponsor.

One report indicated that by the end of 2024 there had already been 327,000 granted parole by this program, which began in late 2022.

With those numbers explained and the fact that it is well-known there are those attempting and have been successful at entering the country to harm not to help, the United States Trump’s “Securing Our Borders” executive order read “Over the last 4 years, the United States has endured a large-scale invasion at an unprecedented level. 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.”

He also cited narcotics and other illicit materials coming across the border as a danger and stated, “These catch-and release policies undermine the rule of law and our sovereignty, create substantial risks to public safety and security, and divert critical resources away from stopping the entry of contraband and fugitives into the United States.”

The order also reinstated the continuation of the building of a physical border wall.

Trump declared an emergency at the Mexico/U.S. border, a truth these past few weeks since there has been gunfire exchanged several times between suspected Mexican cartels and the US Border Patrol agents. Executive order #14157 designated international cartels or organizations like Tren de Aragua and MS-13 as foreign terrorist organizations and with that notice the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 became effective.

In one more bold move Trump also reinstated the “Remain in Mexico” policy, ending a program to release asylum seekers into the U.S. while waiting on their cases to be heard.

A very controversial birthright citizenship executive order was signed regarding children born to undocumented immigrants called Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship executive order #14160. This executive order is being challenged based on the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, “all persons born” in the United States “are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

“Securing Our Borders” is certainly multi-faceted and places the U.S. in an immediate shift. As Trump said and followed through with on inauguration day to secure the U.S. borders, he is wasting no time implementing his plan from both internal and external means.

Rita Cook is a world traveler and writer/editor who specializes in writing on travel, auto, crime and politics. A correspondent for Texas Metro News, she has published 11 books and has also produced low-budget films.