All deliberate speed

February 15, 2019:

The current situation at the southern border presents a border security and humanitarian crisis that threatens core national security interests and constitutes a national emergency. The southern border is a major entry point for criminals, gang members, and illicit narcotics. The problem of large-scale unlawful migration through the southern border is long-standing, and despite the executive branch’s exercise of existing statutory authorities, the situation has worsened in certain respects in recent years.

In particular, recent years have seen sharp increases in the number of family units entering and seeking entry to the United States and an inability to provide detention space for many of these aliens while their removal proceedings are pending. If not detained, such aliens are often released into the country and are often difficult to remove from the United States because they fail to appear for hearings, do not comply with orders of removal, or are otherwise difficult to locate.

In response to the directive in my April 4, 2018, memorandum and subsequent requests for support by the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense has provided support and resources to the Department of Homeland Security at the southern border. Because of the gravity of the current emergency situation, it is necessary for the Armed Forces to provide additional support to address the crisis.

Now, therefore, I, Donald J. Trump, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 201 and 301 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), hereby declare that a national emergency exists at the southern border of the United States, and that section 12302 of title 10, United States Code, is invoked and made available, according to its terms, to the Secretaries of the military departments concerned, subject to the direction of the Secretary of Defense in the case of the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

To provide additional authority to the Department of Defense to support the Federal Government’s response to the emergency at the southern border, I hereby declare that this emergency requires use of the Armed Forces and, in accordance with section 301 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1631), that the construction authority provided in section 2808 of title 10, United States Code, is invoked and made available, according to its terms, to the Secretary of Defense and, at the discretion of the Secretary of Defense, to the Secretaries of the military departments. I hereby direct as follows:

Section 1. The Secretary of Defense, or the Secretary of each relevant military department, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, shall order as many units or members of the Ready Reserve to active duty as the Secretary concerned, in the Secretary’s discretion, determines to be appropriate to assist and support the activities of the Secretary of Homeland Security at the southern border.

Sec. 2. The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and, subject to the discretion of the Secretary of Defense, the Secretaries of the military departments, shall take all appropriate actions, consistent with applicable law, to use or support the use of the authorities herein invoked, including, if necessary, the transfer and acceptance of jurisdiction over border lands.

March 29, 2019:

Trump, while speaking to reporters at an event at Lake Okeechobee in Florida, accused Mexico of choosing not to stop migrants coming to the U.S. southern border.

"If they don't stop them, we are closing the border," Trump said. "We will close it and keep it closed for a long time."

"I'm not playing games," he added.

Trump's comments to reporters came after he threatened in a tweet to close the border next week if Mexico does not take action.

"If Mexico doesn’t immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming into the United States throug [sic] our Southern Border, I will be CLOSING...the Border, or large sections of the Border, next week," the president wrote in a series of tweets.

April 5, 2019:

Facing widespread opposition, President Trump backed down Thursday from his threat to close the southern border, instead giving Mexico a “one-year warning,” but also leaving his administration with no clear path to deal with a record surge of migrant families.

Trump had issued an ultimatum on Twitter late last week that he would move to seal the border to trade and travel if Mexican authorities did not halt illegal immigration.

The president’s pronouncement, coming amid reports that the U.S. Border Patrol was at the “breaking point,” surprised White House aides and sparked fear among Republican allies and business leaders over the potentially devastating economic impact of closing the 2,000-mile border with the nation’s third-largest trading partner.

In the days after his tweet, Trump and his senior advisers issued conflicting signals about his intentions, with some aides privately expressing befuddlement over his strategy. The president offered no public details, and aides worked behind the scenes to craft a plan that would satisfy Trump but minimize the economic harm.

Those efforts were rendered moot Thursday when Trump, in an exchange with reporters at the White House, suddenly shifted gears, saying that if Mexico does not stem the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States within the next year, he will impose first tariffs of 25 percent on cars and then, possibly, close the border.

“We’re going to give them a one-year warning, and if the drugs don’t stop or largely stop, we’re going to put tariffs on Mexico and products, particularly cars,” Trump said. “And if that doesn’t stop the drugs, we close the border.”

Later in the afternoon, ahead of a trade meeting with Chinese officials, Trump praised Mexico for “doing a very good job in the last three or four days since we talked about closing the border,” even though Mexican authorities have said they have not altered their enforcement policies.

April 5, 2019:

President Trump said Friday he is looking for someone “tougher” to lead the country’s top immigration enforcement agency, hours after the White House unexpectedly withdrew its nomination of Ronald Vitiello to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Asked why he had jettisoned Vitiello, the current acting director of ICE who had been scheduled to accompany him on a trip to the border Friday, Trump told reporters: “We’re going in a little different direction. Ron’s a good man. But we’re going in a tougher direction. We want to go in a tougher direction.” 

The move blindsided lawmakers, Department of Homeland Security officials and others across the administration who said Friday they could not fathom why the president would pull his ICE nominee at a moment when U.S. government officials are saying the nation’s immigration enforcement system is at a “breaking point.”

...The president’s previous nominee to lead ICE, Tom Homan, languished without confirmation for months until finally stepping down in frustration. The White House picked Vitiello, a 30-year veteran of Border Patrol, as its nominee in August.

...During the 2016 presidential campaign, on Twitter, Vitiello compared Trump to the cartoon character Dennis the Menace and in another post likened Democrats to the Ku Klux Klan. During his confirmation hearing, Vitiello apologized for the tweets and said they were meant as jokes.

In recent months, as unauthorized border crossings have soared to their highest levels in more than a decade, Trump immigration policy adviser Stephen Miller has been criticizing Vitiello to the president and looking for an opportunity to cut him loose, according to one senior administration official who works on immigration enforcement matters.

...“Stephen wants to put Attila the Hun as director of ICE,” said the official, who believes Miller is seeking to install someone closer to him in the top ICE job.