President-elect Donald Trump indicated Monday that his incoming administration was preparing to declare a national emergency to mobilize military assets to crack down on illegal immigration and secure the border.
Trump responded “TRUE!!” to a Truth Social Post from Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton saying that the second Trump administration was “prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program.”
The emergency declaration on the border would follow one Trump made during his first administration, which he announced on February 15, 2019, as he fought with Democrats in Congress over border security.
“We’re going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border, and we’re going to do it one way or the other,” he said at the time. “We have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming into our country.”
Trump later vetoed a resolution from Democrats in Congress opposing the declaration, which allowed him to fund border wall construction. His administration was sued by Democrat state attorneys general and leftist groups who claimed that the declaration was unconstitutional.
President Joe Biden revoked the emergency declaration on his first day in office as he reversed many of Trump’s immigration policies.
“I have determined that the declaration of a national emergency at our southern border was unwarranted. I have also announced that it shall be the policy of my Administration that no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall, and that I am directing a careful review of all resources appropriated or redirected to that end,” Biden wrote in February 2021.
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Under Biden’s administration, illegal immigration hit record highs as more than 10 million people crossed into the United States. Polling showed that Biden’s handling of immigration was unpopular, while Trump’s positions were broadly supported.
Trump has already tapped immigration hawks like Tom Homan and Stephen Miller for key positions in his administration. Homan, who was picked to be Trump’s border czar, has already promised to carry out Trump’s deportation plans and endorsed extending construction of a border wall.
Throughout his 2024 campaign, Trump promised to enact the largest deportation program in American history.
“Really, we have no choice,” he told NBC earlier this year. “When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries, and now they’re going to go back to those countries because they’re not staying here. There is no price tag.”
