Trump will issue executive orders to remake immigration policies; legal, logistical questions remain

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is going to issue a series of orders aimed at remaking America's immigration policies, ending asylum access, sending troops to the southern border and ending birthright citizenship, an incoming White House official said.

But it’s unclear how Trump would carry out some of his executive orders, including ending automatic citizenship for everyone born in the country, while others were expected to be immediately challenged in the courts.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview some of the orders expected later Monday.

Immigrant communities were bracing for the crackdown that Trump, a Republican, had been promising throughout his campaign and again at a rally Sunday just ahead of his inauguration.

The official previewed a sweeping update of what was to come as the Trump administration gears up to make due on a campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration and carry out mass deportations. The measures seemed designed to bolster border security including sending an undetermined amount of troops to the southern border.

One of the key announcements is the effort to end birthright citizenship — one of Trump’s most sweeping immigration efforts yet to redefine what it means to be American.

Birthright citizenship means anyone born in the United States automatically becomes an American citizen. It’s been in place for over a century and applies to children born to someone in the country illegally or in the U.S. on a tourist or student visa who plans to return to their home country. Trump's effort to end it is certain to face legal challenges, and there was no information provided on how he intends to carry it out.

Trump also intends to suspend refugee resettlement for four months, the official said. That's a program that for decades has allowed hundreds of thousands of people from around the world fleeing war and persecution to come to the United States.

Trump similarly suspended the refugee program at the beginning of his first term, and then after reinstating it, cut the numbers of refugees admitted into the country every year.

The incoming administration will also order an end to releasing migrants in the United States, a practice known as “catch-and-release,” but officials didn’t say how they would pay for the enormous costs associated with detention.

The president will “end asylum,” presumably going beyond what President Joe Biden has done to severely restrict it. It is unclear what the incoming administration will do with people of nationalities whose countries don’t take back their citizens, such as Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The administration will resume the first Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy under which about 70,000 asylum-seekers waited in Mexico for immigration hearings in U.S. immigration court. That measure would require cooperation from Mexico and it is unclear how it jibes with pledges to end asylum altogether.

Trump will order the government, with Defense Department assistance, to “finish” construction of the border wall, though the official didn’t say how much territory that would cover. Barriers currently span about 450 miles (720 kilometers), slightly more than one-third of the border. Many areas that aren’t covered are in Texas, including inhospitable terrain where migrants rarely cross.

Sending troops to the border is a strategy that Trump has used before as has President Joe Biden. In 2018, Trump deployed 800 active-duty troops to assist Border Patrol personnel in processing large migrant caravans. And in 2023, with the U.S. preparing to end pandemic-era restrictions on immigration, the Biden administration sent 1,500 active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Both administrations also used National Guard troops along the border.

The official did not say how many troops Trump was planning to send, saying that would be up to the secretary of defense or what their role would be when the get there.

Historically, troops have been used to back up Border Patrol agents who are responsible for securing the nearly 2,000-mile border separating the U.S. from Mexico and not in roles that put them in direct contact with migrants.

Critics have said that sending troops to the border sends the signal that migrants are a threat.