Arizona border communities react to President Trump's immigration executive orders
PHOENIX - President Donald Trump is already following through on his campaign promise to crack down on the flow of migrants crossing the border.
On the first day of his second term, Trump issued 10 executive orders related to immigration, including issuing a national emergency at the border.
The state of emergency would allow the defense department to deploy the military and National Guard to the border. How many troops, in addition to what border states the troops could be deployed to, remain unknown at this time.
Executive Orders' impact remains to be seen
Despite the flurry of executive orders issued by President Trump over the problems at the border, there remains a lot of uncertainly about their immediate impact.
At least for now, a lot of the executive orders issued are still kind of ‘wait and see.' We contacted someone with the Border Patrol, who said a lot of this is still ‘up in the air.’
Local Perspectives:
Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels says the Executive Order frees up funding, which means more manpower for border communities and local law enforcement.
"It makes it manageable. It adds resources, technology, and personnel. Everything we need to do to secure our country and our border, while bringing engagement back to these communities," Dannels said.
Arizona Farm Bureau President John Boelts talked about the executive order's potential impact on some border communities, like Yuma.
"Yuma County would be impacted almost not all," said Boelts. "We have a legal workforce here. We are very fortunate to have that."
Boelts also said Yuma County can produce more agricultural products, but "more is imported from Mexico every year because folks can't immigrate into this country, or they can't get a work visa to work here."
Some leaders of border communities, like Nogales Mayor Jorge Maldonado, question where the migrants will be detained before being deported, and fears it could fall on small cities like his.
"What will happen if Mexico doesn’t receive all migrants and nationalities?" said Maldonado. "What are we going to do? What is the state going to do? What is the federal going to do? I don’t want them to throw all nationalities here to my city."
Meanwhile, one person in Nogales says they fear the new orders could do more damage than good.
"People come and go, they spend thousands of dollars here, and he forgets that," said one person. "We need each other, and there isn’t animosity here between the border."
Have border crossings decreased?
Currently, border crossings are seeing a significant downtown.
By the numbers:
According to figures from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, apprehensions decreased by more than 70% in the last six months due to executive orders issued in summer 2024 by then-President Joe Biden, along with the Mexican National Guard cracking down on migrants heading to the United States.