(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump has immediately moved securing the U.S. southern border to the top of his White House to-do list as plans to close the border to immigrants who enter the country illegally begin.
Trump signed several executive orders dealing with immigration Monday shortly after being sworn in for his second term in the White House. Part of Trump’s plans to declare a national emergency at the border includes sending military troops to the border to assist with enforcement as well as plans to expand the border wall.
Trump previously ordered 4,000 National Guard troops to the border, a number which was scaled back to 2,500 by former President Joe Biden. The number of guardsmen increased when border encounters jumped.
However, military troops do not have the legal right to enforce federal immigration policies, which can deter migrants from entering the country illegally. However, as Trump begins his second term, local lawmakers will be ready for action.
“The numbers (of border crossings) are down, but there’s so much more to this problem than just numbers on a piece of paper,” U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, told NewsNation. “It’s about infrastructure, it’s about training, it’s about technology, it’s about making sure we add miles to the border wall.”
Gonzales also said part of implementing new policies is about giving border officials the tools they need to operate. That includes technology, equipment as well as pay and benefits that will send the message that their work is being valued.
As soon as Trump was sworn in, a valuable tool used by migrants was no longer available. The CBP One, which was used by more than 1 million migrants over the past few years to make immigration hearing appointments, was deactivated. Hundreds of thousands of appointments were canceled.
The deactivation of the CBP One app was one of the changes that took effect immediately, but other aspects of the Trump border plan will take time.
Lt. Chris Olivarez, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety, told NewsNation that aspects of the plan such as mass deportation efforts and designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations “will take some time.”
Trump has also vowed to reinstate his “Remain in Mexico” policy and has also said he will end the ongoing catch and release program and will add milage to the existing border wall.
“Now, we some of these executive orders, I think it’s going to help us in Texas and of course, law enforcement across the border slow that flow of migration and focus on the needs of the country,” Olivarez said.
“The fact that we have an ally with the federal government working together is really going to be beneficial to us as state law enforcement to focus more on border security and actually have the help of the federal government.”