Why isn't President Trump doing this????
…the president has the delegated and inherent authority to deny entry to anyone, and that overrides even real asylum requests. This was established in Sale v. Haitian Centers Council, Inc. (1993) and Sesay v. Immigration and Naturalization Service INS (2003) and reiterated last year in Trump v. Hawaii. Trump can simply announce to the world that the charade is over and that anyone showing up at our land border without proper documents is inadmissible and will be turned back.
This is especially potent now because, by my calculation, close to 80 percent of family units are coming over parts of our border that are separated from Mexico by the Rio Grande River. Just like Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton kept Haitian asylum seekers off our shores in the early 1990s, Trump can do the same with those attempting to cross the Rio Grande.
Border Patrol already has maritime assets, but the president could order a “hold the line” strategy on the river by marshalling every available boat from the military and placing the National Guard, the Coast Guard, and other active-duty troops on boats all along the river. Add to them all other federal agents who can been temporarily reassigned. They should refuse to allow anyone to cross and turn back anyone caught making the trip. It’s worth creating such a force for several weeks, because after just a few weeks of turnbacks, those thinking of making the trip will change their plans. This is exactly what happened with the Nicaraguans at the Texas border in 1989.
It is utterly stupefying why the president hasn’t been doing this for the past 8-12 months and certainly for the past several months of unprecedented crisis.