President Trump has announced he will use the laws on the books, those passed by both Democrats and Republicans, to begin deporting those in the country illegally and who have already been ordered by judges to leave. The new deportations, while seen as harsh by some, never-the-less uses the penalty currently already part of the laws passed by both parties.

In a tweet, Monday night the president wrote, “Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in. Mexico, using their strong immigration laws, is doing a very good job of stopping people.”

The deportations will begin with those who have already been ordered by courts across the country to leave, having overstayed visas or are identified as gang members.

There are currently thousands of gang members in the US who have crossed the border illegally. Jose Villalobos-Jobel of Honduras was arrested on Nov. 24, after being spotted standing on the U.S. side of the border east of the port of entry in Calexico, Calif.

Customs and Border Protection said Villalobos-Jobel admitted to being from Honduras and an active gang member of Mara Salvatrucha 13, or MS-13, a transnational criminal organization. He also said he traveled to the U.S. from his home country with one of the caravan groups, which have said they were coming to the U.S. to apply for asylum at the border.

The president also tweeted that Guatemala is ready to help stem the flow of migrants from Central America.

They would do that by agreeing to force asylum seekers to make their claims in Guatemala rather than allowing them to travel on to Mexico and the US southern border. There’s been no confirmation yet from Guatemala’s leaders.

Immigration policies set forth by the United Nations and agreed to by 190 nations, require asylum seekers to apply for that asylum in the country immediately adjacent to the nation in which they are leaving. The hundreds of thousand of asylum seekers pouring across the border have passed through numerous countries on their way north, both breaking international law set forth by the UN and US law for not applying through ports of entry.

The move to crack down on illegal border crossings, which is supported overwhelmingly by Americans in the latest polls, comes amid reports that the number of migrants detained at the border is starting to decrease after several months of record border arrests — the number of family units dropping by about 13 percent in June.

Border officials believe the decreasing numbers are due to Mexico taking new steps to stem the flow of migrants into its country. For example, in early June, Mexican police blocked one group of 1,000 migrants with deportations of many of them.

And over this past weekend, Mexican authorities stopped another group of 800 illegal migrants. Mexico has initiated its own deportations of those crossing its southern border after Trump threatened sanctions

President Trump had threatened new tariffs against Mexico to convince authorities to take new steps to stop the massive flow of migrants headed for the US border, passing through Mexico on their journey from countries like Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

–CPNews Service