Former President Trump vows to enlist local police in efforts to deport illegal immigrants from US

EAGLE PASS, TX- In remarks at the US-Mexico border last week, former President Trump indicated that if (when) he is reelected, he will implement mass deportations of illegal aliens to unwind the damage done to the country by Joe Biden’s open border policies. 

The Epoch Times reported that Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity on February 29 that he would also use local law enforcement agencies to assist in that mass deportation effort, calling the current situation at the southern border “the worst border ever in the history of the world.” 

“There’s never been a border where 15, 16, maybe 18 million people have already crossed, and I think nobody has any idea what the number is,” Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, told Hannity. 

In his remarks, Trump also promised he would provide “immunity” to local police to enlist their assistance in removing illegal aliens from the country while also assisting federal law enforcement agencies in battling the invasion at the US-Mexico border. Trump said police “better understand” where exactly illegal aliens come from.

“We have to deport a lot of people, and they have to start immediately,” Trump said. “It’s going to be the local police that are going to turn them over, and we’re going to have to move them back to their country.” 

Trump has been a frequent critic of Biden administration border policies, which were a reversal of Trump-era policies that had been very successful in stemming the tide of illegal entry into the United States. He has slammed Biden for the “chaos at the border” while vowing to facilitate “the largest deportation effort in the history of our country.” 

Trump said Biden is “the worst president our country has ever had.” 

“He’s allowing thousands and thousands of people to come in from China, Iran, Yemen, the Congo, Syria, and a lot of other nations, many nations [that] are not very friendly to us,” he continued. “He’s transported the entire columns of fighting-aged men, and…they look like warriors to me. Something’s going on. It’s bad,” the 45th president said. 

Trump visited what has been called “ground zero” in the border invasion of the US, while Biden went to Brownsville, Texas, on the same day, just over 300 miles from where Trump was. Brownsville has seen little activity compared to Eagle Pass. On Tuesday, Both frontrunners visited Texas ahead of the state’s presidential primary. 

In his remarks, Biden continued to push for what he called a “bipartisan” bill that the administration claims will provide money for border security and immigration reform. Republicans have criticized the bill, which they say would exacerbate the problem of illegal immigration, not fix it. 

For example, the money that would be directed toward “border security,” Republicans claim, would only be a band-aid. Likewise, much of that money would be used not to prevent illegals from entering the country but rather to grease the skids for them to do so. 

Biden, however, continued to criticize Republicans and Trump for opposing the proposed bill, which Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has called “dead on arrival” in the House. 

“I understand my predecessor is in Eagle Pass today,” Biden said. “Here’s what I would say to Mr. Trump: Instead of playing politics with this issue, instead of telling members of Congress to block this legislation, join me, or I’ll join you and tell the Congress to pass this bipartisan border security bill. We can do it together.” 

Biden claims the proposed bill is “the toughest, most efficient, most effective border security bill this country has ever seen.” Republican critics claim, however, that it is actually a Trojan Horse that would make the border crisis worse.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) said that all Biden would need to do is reimplement the Trump-era policies, as well as enforce laws already on the books.

“There are three laws that Congress has already passed that are on the books right now that Biden could and should enforce,” Abbott said. 

Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows that the agency encountered 458,088 illegal aliens attempting to cross the US-Mexico border in FY 2020 during the Trump administration. 

Those numbers skyrocketed to 1.73 million in FY 2021 under Biden, 2.38 million in FY 2022, and, during the first six months of FY 2023, 1.22 million encounters. Those numbers do not include so-called “gotaways.”