Border & Immigration News
The Daily Signal provides border and immigration news, including reporting, analysis, and commentary on policy, enforcement, and political debates.
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news
Trump Has Authority to Declare Emergency for Border Wall, Arizona Lawmaker Says
President Donald Trump does have the authority to declare a national emergency in order to build his promised border barrier between the United States and Mexico if gridlock in Congress makes it necessary, a Republican lawmaker says. “He has the authority, and it’s not unique,” Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said Wednesday at Conversations with Conservatives,… -
news
Trump Vows to Stop Incoming Migrant Caravan but Says a Wall Would Make It ‘Soooo Much Easier’
President Donald Trump vowed on Twitter Thursday to stop a migrant caravan from entering the U.S. with “more troops” as the group heads north from Central America. “More troops being sent to the Southern Border to stop the attempted Invasion of Illegals, through large Caravans, into our Country,” Trump wrote on Twitter Thursday. “We have stopped the… -
opinion
Podcast: How to Curb Sex Trafficking in the US
Around 2 p.m. every day, some men will use their corporate computers to make an appointment to have sex with a minor—and many of those appointments will occur on corporate property. Businesses, says Geoff Rogers, CEO and co-founder of the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking, are among the organizations that may seem to have no… -
news
New York Democrats Pass Bill to Fund College for Illegal Immigrants
New York state lawmakers approved a measure that aims to dole out millions in taxpayer-funded aid to "Dreamers"—who entered the country illegally—attending college. The now Democratic-controlled New York state Legislature on Wednesday passed the Dream Act, legislation that would make thousands of "Dreamers" eligible for financial aid to attend public colleges in the state. The bill, which… -
opinion
Much of Border Wall Fight About Trump Resistance, Not Border Security
Politicians often clothe outrageous policies in reasonable rhetoric. President Donald Trump sometimes does the opposite, wrapping reasonable policy in careless rhetoric. Remember his earlier call for a “Muslim travel ban”? The policy itself—temporary restrictions on travel from a half-dozen countries—was perfectly reasonable. As the ISIS caliphate collapsed, its fighters began fleeing to those nations, and Trump… -
news
Child Sex Offender Nabbed Crossing the Border With Migrant Caravan Families
Customs and Border Protection agents were able to apprehend a previously deported child sex offender who tried re-entering the country with a group of other foreign nationals. A CBP camera operator on Jan. 11 discovered 24 individuals illegally crossing into the United States near the San Luis, Arizona, port of entry. The caravan, which was… -
opinion
A History Lesson on the Shifting Political Stances on Illegal Immigration
Here are a couple of easy immigration questions—answerable with a simple “yes” or “no”—we might ask any American of any political stripe: Does everyone in the world have a right to live in the U.S.? Do the American people have a right, through their elected representatives, to decide who has the right to immigrate to… -
news
During Trump Visit to Border, Families of Slain Officers Call for Border Wall
After his police officer brother, who had immigrated to the United States legally, was allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant, Reggie Singh says it’s time for the government to do whatever it takes to stop illegal immigration. “The way he was killed, what my family’s going through right now, I do not want any other… -
opinion
The Frustrating Flip-Flopping of Politicians Over the Border Wall
Despite advance billing that President Donald Trump’s border wall speech would break news and contain new information, it was mostly familiar rhetoric: Criminals and drugs, rapists and murderers are coming to America and the wall is the only way to stop them. The president named families who have lost loved ones at the hands of… -
opinion
The Ironies of Illegal Immigration
Estimates suggest that there are 11 million to 13 million Mexican citizens currently living in the United States illegally. Millions more emigrated previously and are now U.S. citizens. A recent poll revealed that one-third of Mexicans (34 percent) would like to emigrate to the United States. With Mexico having a population of about 130 million,… -
opinion
Border Wall First Big Government-Funded Infrastructure Project Liberals Don’t Like
Profligate politicians have never met a multibillion-dollar infrastructure project they didn’t like—except when it comes to President Donald Trump’s border wall. Think about it. Boston’s Big Dig black hole, the nation’s most expensive highway project, burned through $25 billion and was plagued by deadly engineering incompetence, endless cost overruns, leaks, lawsuits, and debt. California’s high-speed… -
news
From Oval Office, Trump Says Border Wall Would Make Nation ‘Safer Than Ever Before’
President Donald Trump made an emotional plea Tuesday night for Congress to pass a border security package that includes funding for a steel wall, to minimize the number of victims of violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants. His proposal for a steel wall and other border security measures would make America “safer than ever before,” … -
opinion
We Hear You: The Border Wall and Shutdown Politics
Editor's note: The clash between the president and congressional Democrats over a border wall resulted in a partial government shutdown that is entering its third week. The Daily Signal's audience appears to have Trump's back. Write us at [email protected].—Ken McIntyre Dear Daily Signal: It wasn't all that long ago that Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and the… -
opinion
Trump’s New Asylum Policy Will Help Block Illegal Immigration
Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen recently announced a significant policy change to stop illegal immigration. After years of catch and release, loopholes, and poor enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security is moving to plug the holes in the U.S. immigration system, and especially the loopholes that surround the asylum system. One of the most… -
news
House Democrats Release Plan to End Government Shutdown Without Border Wall Funding
House Democrats are putting together a plan to end the partial government shutdown, which does not include any additional funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who vehemently opposed the border wall, calling it “immoral, ineffective, and expensive,” and her Democratic colleagues reportedly put together legislation that would reopen the government and allocate $1.3… -
news
Wounded Veteran Raising Millions for Border Wall on GoFundMe Page
After three days, a GoFundMe page started by a Purple Heart recipient to help pay for a border wall has more than $6 million from more than 100,000 people as of this writing. This comes as Congress appears unlikely to give President Donald Trump the funding he wants to help pay for his key campaign… -
opinion
Why Economic Freedom Is a Proven Antidote to the Scourge of Human Trafficking
In a recent op-ed essay for The Washington Post, first daughter Ivanka Trump made a powerful case for the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to combat the evil of human trafficking. “The United States is an extraordinarily generous nation, but [the Trump] administration will no longer use taxpayer dollars to support governments that consistently fail to… -
news
Retiring Republicans May Not Show Up to Vote, Threatening Border Wall Vote
There might be one bloc conspicuously absent from Washington, D.C., this week amid the possibility of a shutdown: retired House Republicans. Government funding expires at midnight Friday, and despite President Donald Trump’s repeated calls to pass $5 billion for border wall funding, Republicans in either chamber might not be able to pass a spending bill… -
news
Illegal Immigrant Arrested for Murder Was Previously Deported at Least 8 Times
An illegal immigrant arrested for allegedly shooting and killing a co-worker in Oregon is discovered to have been deported at least eight times. Deciderio Vargas-Ortiz, 52, was arrested for the alleged murder of Renee Luis-Antonio. The two worked together at a creamery in Milton-Freewater, Oregon—a town in the northeastern part of the state—and reportedly had a long-running… -
news
Money, Support for Migrant ‘Caravans’ Flow Through Chicago
Advocates of open borders quoted in media coverage of the migrant “caravan” moving north through Mexico are part of a network of U.S.-based groups funded in the past by left-leaning foundations, according to tax and financial records. Pueblo Sin Fronteras, a Chicago-based nonprofit whose name means People Without Borders, is widely credited with organizing the…