The incoming Trump administration plans to declare a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border and deploy military forces to construct physical barriers, incoming White House officials announced on Monday.
The move is part of 10 planned executive actions on immigration to be unveiled on inauguration day, including controversial measures to end birthright citizenship for children of migrants and asylum seekers.
“The last four years have created an unconscionable risk to public safety, public health and the national security of the United States due to the Biden administration border policy,” an incoming White House official told reporters during a press briefing.
The administration also plans to suspend refugee resettlement for at least four months, reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy requiring asylum seekers to wait outside U.S. territory, and seek capital punishment for certain crimes committed by unauthorised immigrants.
Officials declined to specify the scale of military deployment planned for border wall construction, saying those decisions would be left to the Secretary of Defense. The administration also withheld details about potential military operations targeting drug cartels, which it intends to designate as terrorist organisations.
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