In a steering memorandum to key government departments, President Trump wrote, “By means of Govt Order 14167 of January 20, 2025, which clarifies the army’s function in defending the territorial integrity of the US, I assigned the Armed Forces the mission of repelling the invasion and sealing the southern border towards illegal entry to protect the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and safety of the US.”
Virtually instantly after starting his second time period, President Donald Trump reaffirmed his dedication to frame safety by issuing an government order on January 20, 2025, titled “Defending the American Individuals In opposition to Invasion.” Within the textual content, Trump referred to the continuing wave of unlawful immigration as an “invasion,” blaming the Biden administration for having created an unprecedented disaster by dismantling enforcement mechanisms and permitting hundreds of thousands of unlawful aliens to enter or stay within the nation.
As a part of his broader technique to repel what he calls an “invasion,” President Trump has moved shortly to remove incentives for unlawful immigration, ramp up deportations, and deploy army forces to safe the southern border. The usage of army belongings marks a major escalation.
Trump’s government order revoked 4 major Biden-era immigration directives and launched what’s now some of the aggressive enforcement efforts in a long time. All federal businesses have been ordered to completely implement the Immigration and Nationality Act, with a concentrate on eradicating all inadmissible and deportable aliens. The revoked Biden orders had expanded asylum entry, restricted ICE inside operations, and deprioritized deportations.
The order additionally created Homeland Safety Job Forces (HSTFs) in each state. These joint groups of federal, state, and native officers are charged with dismantling cartels, gangs, and trafficking networks, particularly these involving youngsters. The Lawyer Common and Secretary of Homeland Safety are overseeing centralized command and coordination for the duty forces.
DHS has expanded its use of expedited removing procedures and is utilizing new detention facilities to carry aliens pending deportation. Native cooperation has been reactivated via Part 287(g) of the INA, permitting vetted state and native officers to help with immigration duties underneath DHS supervision. Sanctuary jurisdictions that hinder enforcement now threat dropping federal funds.
The administration can also be reviving and increasing voluntary departure insurance policies underneath Part 240B of the INA, encouraging unlawful aliens to go away the nation on their very own. DHS is imposing fines on these unlawfully current and on those that facilitate their keep, together with employers and landlords.
Federal funding for NGOs that assist unlawful aliens is underneath overview, with DOJ and DHS auditing contracts and terminating people who violate immigration legislation. Companies have been ordered to chop off public advantages to unlawful aliens not licensed to obtain them.
The manager order additionally reopens the VOICE Workplace, shut down underneath Biden, to help victims of crimes dedicated by detachable aliens. DHS and DOJ have been directed to prioritize prosecutions of immigration-related crimes and to extend hiring of Border Patrol and ICE officers to fulfill rising enforcement calls for.
This enforcement surge has been accompanied by a big enlargement of the army’s function alongside the southern border. On April 11, 2025, President Trump issued a presidential memorandum formally assigning the U.S. Armed Forces the mission of sealing the border and repelling what the administration continues to explain as an invasion.
Constructing on Govt Order 14167, the memo authorizes the Division of Protection to take management of sure federal lands, together with the Roosevelt Reservation, to conduct operations corresponding to constructing obstacles, deploying surveillance methods, and establishing Nationwide Protection Areas.
The order grants the Secretary of Protection broad authority to find out the scope of army actions, which can be prolonged throughout further areas of the border in coordination with DHS. Though Indian Reservations are excluded, the Pentagon has been given sweeping entry to public lands and the authorized flexibility to behave with out the constraints of prior land-use legal guidelines.
As of June 2025, 1000’s of active-duty troops are already deployed to the southern border underneath this expanded mission. Greater than 3,600 troopers, primarily from Military army police models, are supporting surveillance and deterrence operations. Round 500 Marines with engineering specialties are reinforcing and repairing bodily obstacles, welding metal and putting in concertina wire in high-traffic areas often known as “no man’s land.”
These forces are outfitted with superior Floor-Based mostly Operational Surveillance Methods (G-BOSS), offering persistent infrared and radar-based statement capabilities. Troops are working underneath strict use-of-force protocols and are barred from direct legislation enforcement actions, corresponding to arrests, underneath the Posse Comitatus Act. Nonetheless, they’re licensed to detain people who cross into designated Nationwide Protection Areas, such because the 60-foot-wide Roosevelt Reservation, and switch them to Customs and Border Safety custody.
The army now controls over 109,000 acres of federal land alongside the border, the place it gives command-and-control infrastructure, intelligence evaluation, aerial surveillance, logistics, and automobile assist to Border Patrol operations. Armed Guardian Angel groups have been deployed to offer safety for models within the discipline. Official steering describes the mission as one among repelling illegal entry and preserving the territorial integrity of the US, whereas emphasizing that each one operations stay throughout the bounds of present legislation and protection doctrine.
It seems that turning again the invasion of unlawful immigrants and restoring American sovereignty was merely a matter of political will, however, tragically, earlier administrations selected to not act.
