(The Center Square) – President-elect Donald Trump on Monday confirmed reports that he is planning to declare a national emergency because of the “invasion” of the southern border and use the military to close the border.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton posted on social media about the reports, a post that Trump shared to his followers with the comment “TRUE.”
“GOOD NEWS: Reports are the incoming @RealDonaldTrump administration prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program,” Fitton wrote.
Trump’s campaign focused on immigration as one if its main issues as the southern border crisis and Vice President Kamala Harris’ work on the immigration issue became a feature of the presidential campaign.
Trump vowed to close the border and stop the flow of illegal immigration, which rose to unprecedented levels during the Biden-Harris administration.
The familiar political battle lines either praised or criticized Trump’s decision.
While Democrats and some Republicans earlier this year called for Congressional action to solve the border crisis, the president already has wide authority to address it, something the Biden-Harris administration demonstrated over the summer when they managed to decrease the number of migrants entering the U.S.
Trump could radically change the status quo on immigration without Congress simply by enforcing the laws on the books and changing administrative rules that release migrants into the U.S. and then intentionally refuse to deport them when they don’t show up for court.
Trump’s pick for Tom Homan as border czar and his comments on Monday suggest he will be wielding that executive power on the immigration issue.
As The Center Square previously reported, Homan told the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability in January that Biden is the first president to “unsecure the border on purpose.”