Isaac Saul (9:27)
All right, first up, let's start with what the left is saying. The left criticizes the orders, suggesting they improperly target legal immigrants. Some say the orders will likely make the situation and the border worse. Others argue the actions are founded on false premises about immigration. In the Washington Post, Katherine Rampel said Trump is not just going after foreigners who break the law. Donald Trump promised to crack down on illegal immigration avow many Americans support, but so far his administration has been much more fixated on punishing legal immigrants, rampell wrote. The president and his supporters rebut accusations of xenophobia by claiming they have nothing against immigrants per se they merely want immigrants to wait their turn and come to America the right way. But this rhetoric is at odds with Trump's record in his first term. He had almost no effect on illegal immigration levels, but he did manage to demolish legal immigration levels. This week, Trump suspended the entire refugee system and canceled flights of refugees already cleared and scheduled to come here. Among Those stranded are 1,700 Afghans, including those who helped American military efforts, or our family of active duty US Military personnel, rampel said. Meanwhile, Trump canceled interviews for asylum seekers who have been waiting in Mexico for months to come into the United States legally through ports of entry. Shutting down these legal, orderly routes for immigrating to America not only betrays the people who waited patiently and followed our laws, it also incentivizes more illegal immigration, since desperate people fleeing war and persecution will still find ways to come. In foreign policy, Edward Alden argued Trump's immigration orders will bring chaos to the border. US President Donald Trump took office this week and inherited the most secure southern border in decades, with recorded illegal crossings plummeting over the past year despite a strong US Economy that continues to be a magnet for foreign workers, alden wrote. So what did Trump do on Day one? He declared a national emergency at the southern border and ripped up most of the Biden administration initiatives that had brought it under control. Amid a slew of executive actions on Trump's first day, those on immigration stand out. The new president's approach will bring back the very crisis that he claims he was elected to resolve. If the deterrence fences, walls, technology, border patrol agents, legal bars on asylum claims are sufficiently harsh and widespread, then illegal crossings can be halted, the thinking goes. But there is nothing in the history of US Border control efforts to suggest that such an approach will be effective, alden said. Trump's first term was revelatory. Despite the president implementing harsher border measures, including separating children from their parents, illegal crossings surged in the strong economy of 2019, exceeding the numbers of any year of the preceding Obama administration. It was only with the start of the COVID 19 pandemic in 2020, which brought border closures and spiking unemployment, that illegal crossings again dropped significantly. In the New Yorker, Jonathan Blitzer wrote about the unchecked authority of Trump's immigration orders. A central theme of all of Trump's immigration orders is recasting migration as a form of invasion. As a piece of political rhetoric, the word has become numbingly histrionic. But as a legal notion in the world of these executive orders, it triggers a response that goes far beyond the president's already broad powers to manage immigration, Blitzer said. Both Trump and President Joe Biden have sought to bar entry to asylum seekers through an expansive reading of the Immigration and Nationality act, which is the main statute covering federal immigration law. These new orders aim to cast aside the INA and allow Trump to seek recourse in the Constitution. As a president defending his country from a foreign threat, many of these orders reinforce the fiction that mass migration constitutes some kind of war. At the moment, following months of sharply declining numbers of migrants at the border, the government is arresting fewer people than it did in the final months of Trump's first term, blitzer wrote. Even in late 2023, when there was a legitimate crisis with 250,000 people apprehended by Border Patrol in the month of December alone, the idea that the country was in the midst of a hostile foreign takeover would have been absurd. Alright, that is it for what the left is saying. Which brings us to what the right is saying. The right mostly supports the orders, noting that they align with Trump's campaign promises. Some say the message sent by the orders will amplify their impact. Others say congressional action is needed to build on Trump's start. In the New York Post, Andrew Arthur explored how Trump's border orders are reversing the migrant crisis. President Trump identified immigration as the issue that put him over the top in the 2024 election, and now he's moving quickly to fulfill his promises, taking a slew of actions to recalibrate our immigration system, arthur wrote. While foes and friends have focused on directives to end birthright citizenship and designate foreign drug cartels and criminal gangs as terrorist organizations, Trump's other immigration initiatives will be much more impactful, at least in the short term. Trump issued a proclamation suspending illegal entries outside the ports of entry that will, once implemented, restrict illegal migrants ability to apply for asylum in an effort to protect states from criminal aliens and preserve limited public resources. A separate Trump executive order resumes construction of the federal border wall system, Arthur said. Trump has also vowed to make America safe again by reinstating Remain in Mexico, a program started in his first term that sent illegal entrants back across the border to await their asylum hearings in less than 48 hours. The second Trump administration established a roadmap that will bring security and sense back to our immigration system. In the Daily Caller, John Loftus suggested the optics of Trump's orders are just as important as the numbers themselves. The actions taken to shore up border security are all impressive. So too the numbers. But the optics of Trump's border blitz are just as important, if not more. Under President Joe Biden's administration, Americans were increasingly alarmed over the prospect of increased crime rates, drugs, potential terrorism and a heavier taxpayer burden stemming from illegal immigration, loftus wrote. Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, Americans want to feel safe in their own country, their own city and their own neighborhood. Unfortunately, though, Americans have grown accustomed to fear and paranoia in 2025. Why? Because illegal immigration and lawlessness have eroded trust, Loftus said. Trump's optics on the immigration crisis are but a small, crucial step toward restoring trust throughout America and trust in government, which has cratered in recent decades. They will also act as a deterrent. Border encounters are already dropping just weeks into the Trump administration, and illegal aliens currently residing in the United States are reportedly hiding in fear. Next ICE raid. If the raids are to continue long into 2025, those numbers will only further decrease. In Newsweek, Sean Spicer wrote, executive orders are a good start, but we need lasting immigration reform. On day one, Trump kept his campaign promises. He signed a series of executive orders that addressed the border crisis head on. These moves sent a clear message. This administration is serious about securing the borders, spitzer said. But while executive orders make headlines, it's also time for my fellow Republicans to deliver the long term solutions Americans deserve that future presidents can't unravel with the stroke of a pen. The truth is, our immigration system is outdated, insufficient and overburdened. It demands a comprehensive legislative overhaul, and Congress needs to step up to the plate. One of the biggest hurdles we face is staffing. U.S. customs and Border Patrol has been under resourced and overworked for years. Despite the growing number of encounters with noncitizens at the border, CBP has struggled to meet its staffing goals, spicer wrote. Then there's the issue of backlogs. Right now, nearly 4 million immigration cases are stuck in limbo. The backlog has doubled over the past decade, and the system is grinding to a halt. President Trump has the mandate and the opportunity to lead. It's time for Congress to get to work and pass a comprehensive solution that secures our borders, streamlines the process, and restores faith in our government's ability to manage immigration effectively. Alright, let's head over to Will for his take.
