US President Donald Trump is preparing to send about 10,000 troops to the southern border to assist border patrols in implementing the new decree to stop entry into the United States, the “Washington Post” wrote today, BTA reported.
The newspaper said the order would order border patrol agents to block immigrants from entering the country on the grounds that they have traveled through countries with infectious diseases, without citing a specific public health threat.
In the first of several phases of the military deployment, the Pentagon will send at least 1,500 active-duty ground troops to the southern border, Acting Defense Secretary Robert Sales said. The forces would be in addition to about 2,500 troops already stationed there.
The U.S. Air Force will also be involved in the fight against illegal immigrants, helping to deport people already detained, Sales added.
The newly appointed Border Patrol chief, Mike Banks, on Tuesday instructed patrols to use their emergency powers to close the border. The only two border guards who can allow asylum seekers to enter the United States are Banks and his deputy, the Washington Post notes.
The New York Times newspaper draws attention to another consequence of Trump's order - the sudden cancellation by the State Department of flights with refugees who have already been approved to arrive in the country. This happened days before the expiration of the deadline that the president had set for stopping the resettlement program, which provides asylum to people fleeing persecution in their home countries.
According to government data, more than 10,000 people in various countries around the world are currently preparing to travel to the United States. Among them are Afghans who were at risk because of their association with the United States before the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. Other refugees who have been approved for travel include people from Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.
The sudden cancellation of flights is a painful blow for refugees who have gone through a complex and lengthy process to enter the United States legally, the publication notes.
Yesterday, the US Congress also passed the first bill of Trump's second term - a text affecting illegal immigration, the French newspaper “Le Monde“ reports.
According to it, illegal immigrants who have been convicted or accused of certain crimes, including minor ones, will be automatically detained by federal law enforcement agencies.
The bill was approved by the House of Representatives, in which Republicans have a majority, by 263 votes “for“ against 156 “against“. More than 40 Democratic members of the House voted in favor of the bill, which is a sign of a change in trends on the issue of immigration among the American political class, the publication notes.
The bill is expected to be signed by Donald Trump, who in his inauguration speech on Monday promised to "send millions of criminal aliens back to where they came from", in order to enter into force.
“Illegal (entered the US) criminal aliens must be detained, deported and NEVER allowed to return to our country“, wrote the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, on the social network “Ex“.
The project is called “Lakeen Riley's Law“, after the 22-year-old student who in was killed in Georgia on February 24, 2024, by a Venezuelan immigrant who had entered the United States illegally. Prior to the killing, 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra had been arrested for shoplifting, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not issue a warrant for his arrest and he was not detained.
The case caused a stir during the election campaign and was widely covered by Donald Trump and Republicans, who blamed the killing on the “weak policies of the Biden administration regarding border control“.
The Laken Riley Act would require Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain undocumented immigrants charged, arrested, or convicted of “burglary, theft, robbery, or shoplifting“.
“The Wall Street Journal“ for its part, reported that authorities in Chicago have so far refused to conduct a major operation against illegal immigrants after their plans became known last week.
The Immigration Service has already carried out several operations against illegal immigrants in many places in the United States on Tuesday, but they were limited in scale, the publication notes.
Teams of five or six officers detained people who were in the country illegally, mainly those convicted or accused of serious crimes. Similar operations have been carried out frequently in the past, the newspaper noted, adding that 308 people, identified by immigration authorities as “hardened criminals“, were arrested yesterday.