If Donald Trump deserves credit for one thing this past election, it was bringing the issue of illegal immigration center-stage. Rather than wimp out on the issue of immigration like Mitt Romney (who wanted illegals to “self-deport”), or “Jeb!” Bush (who thought that illegal immigration was an “act of love”), he had a bold plan. We’d build a wall along the Mexican border, and Mexico would pay for it.
For some reason, people actually doubt that someone with Trump’s experience in real estate and construction could pull it off. If China could build a 13,171 mile long over 1,300 years ago – The Great Wall of China – we can build one on the Mexican border, which totals about 2,000 miles in length. In all fairness, the Chinese didn’t get the Mongolians to pay for the wall, I suppose.
Contrary to the pundits, as it turns out, it’ll be easier for Trump to build his wall than you’d think. The President has a good deal of room to affect immigration policy:
President-elect Donald Trump will be able to make many of his promised changes in immigration policy unilaterally by the use of executive power.
While most of the measures laid out in a ten-point immigration policy plan on Trump’s transition website could be set in motion without legislative approval, fully implementing them would require funding that Congress would have to approve, legal experts said.
Two core pieces of Trump’s plan, for example, involve removing more criminal immigrants who are in the country illegally and ending “catch and release” of those who cross the border illegally and are awaiting court hearings.
Shifting policy on both issues could be accomplished by putting out new enforcement directives to agents in the field from the Department of Homeland Security.
H/T: Reuters
His first step will be reversing Obama’s prior executive orders on immigration. He can remove with a mere pen-stroke Obama’s 2012 policy which allowed immigrants brought here illegally as children to apply for work permits (a program known as DACA).
From that point on, it’s just a matter of actually building the wall. I’ll honestly be surprised if he’s able to get Mexico to pay for the wall, but considering how conventional wisdom has been wrong about EVERYTHING relating to Trump before, who knows?
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