In a blistering op-ed in the Des Moines Register, Donald Trump has pledged to reverse “Joe Biden’s border disaster on day one.” Trump has, and deserves, a tremendous amount of credibility on this subject; his record as president of enforcing the immigration laws and controlling the border was sterling. He is also right to say that Biden’s policies are causing a “nation-wrecking nightmare on our southern border,” and not only on our border, but in our major cities.
No nation can tolerate for long the record-breaking number of illegal immigrants that this country has seen and continues to see under Joe Biden. Trump’s proposed measures to stem this illegal tide, to defend America’s communities from the inordinate costs that it imposes, and to enforce the laws as Congress has written them, are long overdue. And even if, as Trump recognizes, bold measures including “record-setting deportation operations” that will result in “millions” of deportations will be needed, those actions are necessary and proportionate to the magnitude of the problems Biden has caused.
One initiative that Trump proposes, however, should give pause even to his strong supporters (of whom I am one). This is his pledge to “invoke the Alien Enemies Act to remove known or suspected gang members, drug dealers, or cartel members from the United States.”
The problem here is that the law in question does not authorize the action Trump proposes. In the laudable effort to enforce the immigration laws as Congress has enacted them, a reelected
