Executive Branch Terrorism & Extremism

Trump Signs Executive Order ‘Securing Our Borders’

Olivia Manes
Tuesday, January 21, 2025, 1:13 PM
The order directs the secretaries of defense and homeland security to take action to “deter” and “remove” illegal immigrants.
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On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Securing Our Borders.” The order is meant to address “the disastrous effects of unlawful mass migration and resettlement.” It lays out several policy goals, including “building a physical wall”; “deterring” and “removing” illegal immigrants; and “obtaining complete operational control of the southern border.” 

To these ends, the order empowers the secretary of defense and the secretary of homeland security to deploy sufficient personnel—including “supplemental” personnel—to secure the border, citing 8 U.S.C § 1103. It also directs the secretary of homeland security to detain illegal immigrants “to the fullest extent permitted by the law, until their successful removal from the United States.”

The order was signed in tandem with the executive order “Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern Border of the United States.” 

You can read the order here or below: 

 


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Olivia Manes

Olivia Manes

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Olivia Manes is an associate editor of Lawfare. She holds an MPhil with distinction in politics and international studies from the University of Cambridge and a dual B.A. with distinction in international relations and comparative literature from Stanford University. Previously, she was an associate editor of the Cambridge Review of International Affairs.

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