In January, former President Donald Trump published an opinion piece in the Iowas Des Moines Register in which he promises to enact a range of ultra-strict border policies should he be re-elected as president.
Call to arms
“The most urgent task facing the next president is to end Joe Biden’s nation-wrecking nightmare on our southern border,” Trump wrote in the Iowa paper. “I am the only candidate who will stop this invasion — and I will do it on day one.”
Touting achievements
“Under the Trump administration, we had the most secure border in US history,” Trump claimed. He listed many of his administration’s achievements, including building 500 miles of border wall.
Facts say something else
Only 52 miles of that was actually newly built under Trump, however. According to PolitiFact, the rest was constructed behind or to replace already existing barriers.
Long way to go
Additionally, the wall Trump called “impenetrable” was easily breached. According to government maintenance records analyzed by the Washington Post in 2022, smugglers breached the barrier more than 3,200 times using simple power tools.
Biden continuing
Despite pledging not to expand the border wall, Biden authorized the construction of up to 20 miles of barriers in October. The move has drawn fierce criticism from progressives, who view the barriers as inhumane and point out the damage caused to local ecology.
More fact checks
According to FactCheck.org, Trump’s claim that he created the “strongest border” in America’s history is also false. Apprehensions at the southwest border, the site of most of Trump’s barriers, were almost 15% higher in Trump’s final year relative to the year before he took office.
Appealing to voters
Trump’s publication in a top Iowan paper comes less than a fortnight before the Iowa Republican presidential caucus, the first event of the Republican primary calendar. The former president easily took first place, solidifying his position as the Party’s presumptive nominee.
Ancient laws
In his article, Trump promised to use a centuries-old law to deport “the millions of illegal aliens who have invaded.” President FDR also used the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act during World War II to deport and imprison German, Japanese, and Italian citizens. (It was not the legal basis for internment, which Congress has since apologized for.)
Uncertain legality
The law specifies that it is valid only when “there is a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated.” Because the US is not at war with any of the home countries of the migrants, and because the use of “invasion” to describe migrants individually seeking entry is hotly debated, it’s unclear whether Trump’s planned use of the ancient law would be found constitutional or not.
Sordid history
Trump’s promise of a “record-setting deportation operation” is based on an infamous 1950s mass deportation scheme called “Operation Wetback,” after the ethnic slur used against Hispanic people. It is “considered by many immigration scholars as a painful part of national history,” the Washington Post wrote, “because of the documented abuse that Mexican migrants suffered during and after their deportations.”
Concerning comments
Trump’s Op-Ed follows and builds on a number of concerning comments in which the former president claimed migrants were “poisoning the blood of our country” and promised to be a “dictator” on day one to remove them. Such rhetoric was infamously used by fascists throughout the twentieth century, including Hitler, numerous experts warned.
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