President Donald J. Trump Declares a National Emergency at the Southern Border – The White House

INVOKING A NATIONAL EMERGENCY: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order invoking the National Emergencies Act regarding the crisis at the Southern Border of the United States.

• The Executive Order declares a national emergency at the southern border following four years of record-shattering illegal immigration into the U.S.
• It directs the Secretary of Defense to deploy additional personnel to the border, including members of the Armed Forces and the National Guard.
• Additionally, it directs the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security to finish the wall along the southern border and ensures that DHS has all the flexibility it needs to operate air missions near the border.

TAKING BACK CONTROL: For the past four years, the federal government has abdicated its responsibility to enforce the border, resulting in a catastrophic immigration crisis for the United States.

• When States like Texas took steps to prevent illegal crossings into their state, the federal government sought to stop them by cutting down their barriers.
• A record-shattering 8.72 million border encounters have occurred at the southern border from FY21-FY24, overwhelming border resources and endangering communities.
  • This has led to untold hundreds of thousands of children being trafficked.  Roughly 550,000 unaccompanied alien children have been encountered at the border since FY21.  Fentanyl and other drugs are pouring over the border and flooding our communities, killing roughly 75,000 Americans in 2023—the number one cause of death for Americans ages 18-45.
  • It has allowed dangerous gangs like the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua to takeover and terrorize entire American cities.
  • And it has led to the murders of innocent Americans like Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungaray, Rachel Morin, and many others.

BUILDING ON PAST SUCCESS: America is in a dire situation, and it is past time for the government to act. President Trump first declared an emergency at the Southern Border on February 15, 2019, and continued that emergency on February 13, 2020.

• Following the at-the-time historic surges of illegal aliens in 2018, President Trump declared a national emergency and successfully reduced the number of people seeking to enter the country illegally.
• In 2024, President Trump promised to declare an emergency to secure the border and use the military where necessary to protect Americans from foreign threats.
• This Executive Order will allow the government to gain operational control of the border, combat the cartels, and secure our nation.
• As President Trump described in 2018: “Illegal immigration affects the lives of all Americans. Illegal immigration hurts American workers; burdens American taxpayers; and undermines public safety; and places enormous strain on local schools, hospitals, and communities in general, taking precious resources away from the poorest Americans who need them most. Illegal immigration costs our country billions and billions of dollars each year…And I will therefore take every lawful action at my disposal to address this crisis. And that’s what we’re doing.”