(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump spent his first week in office bringing the U.S.-Mexico border to the nation’s center stage.
Donald Trump’s first border actions
His first actions included signing a slew of executive orders to curtail immigration and deport unauthorized migrants already in the country. One order, signed on Day One, shut down the CBP One app, canceling all outstanding appointments made by migrants seeking visas.
Others designated cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, attempted to end birthright citizenship and shutter the U.S. refugee program. Immigration officers are also now permitted to enter sensitive locations like schools and churches to conduct raids.
In his first week, the 47th president deployed an initial 1,500 troops in California and Texas, making good on his promise to involve military personnel at the border.
Multiple deportations were carried out via flight, some of which were reportedly refused by Mexico. The White House has since claimed there was a miscommunication and that Mexico has not refused any of the flights.
Rep. Tony Gonzalez, R-Texas, confirmed that 80 Guatemalan nationals were deported by flight at Biggs Army Airfield in his district.
ICE arrests more than 1,000 people across US
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in 10 major U.S. cities — including Boston, Denver, New York City and Newark — have led to the arrests of more than 1,300 migrants, Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan told NewsNation on Thursday. Of those arrested, Homan said 1,000 have criminal records.
The number of arrests in the first three days of Trump’s presidency represents about 1.1% of total arrests made by ICE in FY2024.
Then, there were about 310 average arrests per day. That average is now about 433 per day — a number that will likely grow.
NewsNation’s Safia Samee Ali and Anna Kutz contributed to this report.
