Citing Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution, the proclamation says it would allow ‘certain emergency tools’ to block illegal immigrants.
President Donald Trump on Monday declared a national emergency over what he called “an invasion” at the U.S.–Mexico border.
The White House on Monday night said in a proclamation that the Trump administration has a legal basis for the actions because the level of illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and criminal activity amounts to “an invasion under Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution of the United States.”
“I have determined that the current state of the southern border reveals that the Federal Government has failed in fulfilling this obligation to the States and hereby declare that an invasion is ongoing at the southern border, which requires the Federal Government to take measures to fulfill its obligation to the States,” Trump said in the proclamation.
That declaration will give his office “certain emergency tools,” including allowing for the suspension of “entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate” under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
Over the past four years, the order said, “The sheer number of aliens entering the United States has overwhelmed the system and rendered many of the INA’s provisions ineffective, including those previously described that are intended to prevent aliens posing threats to public health, safety, and national security from entering the United States.”
There are now millions of illegal immigrants in the United States “who potentially pose significant threats to health, safety, and national security” who have “moved into communities nationwide,” it further said.
The proclamation on Monday was one of many by Trump related to illegal immigration.
In a separate order released by the White House, Trump declared that the United States’ “sovereignty is under attack” and that the southern border is being “overrun by cartels, criminal gangs, known terrorists, human traffickers, smugglers, unvetted military-age males from foreign adversaries,” and drugs that harm Americans.
Explaining why an emergency must be declared, Trump said that “widespread chaos and suffering” has been inflicted on American citizens by illegal immigrants.
