Texas [US], January 26: They're so close, but their goal is unattainable. This is the situation for the many migrants stuck on the Mexican side of the border with the United States.
One woman, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear for her safety, told DW that she left her home in southern Mexico because criminals tried to kidnap her and her daughter. DW spoke with her in Ciudad Juarez, a city near the border with Texas.
"We have no alternative, because we can't just say, 'Let's start again,'" she explained. "We're still in Mexico, and the gangs are powerful. They're everywhere."
Just the other side of the Rio Grande is the United States. El Paso, a grid-patterned city of 680,000 people at the foot of the Franklin Mountains, is the hometown of Aimee Santillan. She works with a Catholic organisation called Hope, which concerns itself with US immigration policy.
"We've had really hard restrictions in the past, and the numbers haven't changed," Santillan told DW. "If people don't feel safe in their countries, they're going to come regardless. So it doesn't really change much if the policies are restrictive, or if they're more just and fair."
Trump shuts down legal pathway to the US
Donald Trump, who returned to the White House on Monday, has made border security one of the top priorities at the start of his second presidential term. He declared a state of emergency at the southern border, and took the first step toward deploying the military and beginning mass deportations. Concurrently, Congress passed a law to facilitate arrests and deportations.
Yet the border regime Trump inherited from his predecessor, Joe Biden, was already relatively tough - the strictest of any Democratic president to date. In June 2024, Biden imposed new rules that, among other things, barred people from seeking asylum if they have crossed the border illegally. Just before Biden left office, the Department of Homeland Security announced that these new rules had reduced illegal border crossings by 60%.
However, the Biden administration also created a legal pathway for claiming asylum: the border agency's CBP One app, which allowed people to make an appointment to apply at the border. Trump shut down the app immediately upon taking office.
Santillan from Hope said that while the app wasn't entirely satisfactory, it at least ensured there was an orderly procedure at the border.
"Seeing it end, and then families who had appointments showing up and being told that their appointments were cancelled, after waiting months in Mexico to be able to cross
- that was really shocking," she said. "People are just very uncertain. There are really no pathways to apply for asylum right now, or to cross the border to ask for any kind of relief."
Border order not a military operation - for now
But Trump's new rules go well beyond just shutting down the app. In the executive order he issued on Monday, Trump instructed the US departments of defense and homeland security to cooperate with state governors who want to build additional sections of a wall along the border with Mexico. By declaring a state of emergency, the president has enabled them to access funds without the need to obtain congressional approval.
A key section of the order is dedicated to the deployment of personnel and resources. In this, Trump has instructed the secretary of defense to send members of the armed forces and provide the necessary logistical services to the Department of Homeland Security to ensure "complete operational control of the southern border of the United States."
It's important to note that the order says these are to be supplied "in support of civilian- controlled law enforcement operations." It is not a military operation - not, at least, for now. Trump has requested updates within 30 and 90 days on the measures taken and their effects.
How will the military deployment proceed?
Since Trump issued his executive order, the Pentagon has announced the deployment of 1,500 soldiers from the army and navy. Their first task will be to construct border barriers. They will be reinforcing the approximately 2,500 soldiers previously deployed under Biden to support the civilian border guard.
In Texas, they will join forces with an ongoing border protection operation run by the National Guard since 2021 and funded, so far, by the state itself. In a speech to supporters shortly after his inauguration, Trump indicated that he saw Operation Lone Star - a highly controversial Texas border patrol scheme that potentially violates US constitutional provisions - as a model.
When someone pointed out that Greg Abbott, the Texas governor responsible for the operation, was sitting right in front of him, Trump was full of praise. "He's doing a phenomenal job," he declared. "But now you're going to have a partner that's going to work with you."
In principle, the National Guard is under the command of federal state governors. Members of the California National Guard are currently helping to fight the fires in and around Los Angeles. They may also be deployed to suppress riots, as was the case in Minnesota in 2020 following the death of George Floyd.
However, in the event of war, or if a state of emergency has been declared, the National Guard can also be deployed by Congress, the president or the secretary of defence
Will Trump invoke a 200-year-old law?
Unlike the National Guard, the regular army cannot easily be deployed within the US. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 prohibits it. But there is an explicit exception to this federal law: the so-called Insurrection Act of 1807. This was originally intended to enable the president to bring in the army to suppress uprisings. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, under former President George W. Bush, it was extended to cover military assistance in response to natural disasters.
In his decree, Trump demands a report from the secretaries of defense and the interior within 90 days on whether the situation at the border requires said act to be invoked. Doing so would allow Trump to launch a more extensive military operation, including large-scale deportations of people without valid residence permits.
Any such step by the Trump administration would inevitably end up in court. More than 20 states have already filed lawsuits this week against Trump's executive order declaring that babies born in the US will only be eligible for US citizenship if their parents meet specific residency requirements. This is contrary to the US Constitution, which imposes no restrictions on birthright citizenship.
Aimee Santillan in El Paso believes that, despite his determination, Trump will not be able to achieve his ultimate goal. "What he wants is for people to stop coming, and for immigration to basically stop," she said. "And that's not going to happen
Source: Times of Oman
