Invasions and National Emergencies vs Facts

 

Invasions and National Emergencies vs Facts

If you want some quiet alone time and if you are willing to accept wandering US soldiers, ICE and Border Patrol agents on the prowl, I suggest hanging out, if you dare, anywhere along our roughly 2000-mile border with Mexico. What you won’t see much of those would be undocumented aliens attempting to cross into the United States. And then there’s this endless sieve of flowing fentanyl flooding into the US from Canada that justified punitive tariffs against our neighbor to the north, according to Donald Trump.

But many of Donald Trump’s executive orders, intended to be based on direct determinations by federal agencies of who can be deemed a criminal perpetrator or border-crosser – without the benefit of constitutionally-mandated due process under the 5th and 14th Amendments – and be instantly deported, perhaps to a Salvadoran “concentration” camp prison (like CECOT). All based on inapplicable provisions of the Constitution or very old statutes side-stepping due process – whether by immigration hearing, appearance before a traditional court or a habeas corpus petition – allowing such unilateral actions in times of national emergency, invasion, armed insurrection or rebellion. Indeed, so many of these federal agency determinations are based simply on a “gee, that tattoo looks like it might be evidence of gang membership” determination by a lone ICE agent.

So, let’s look at the statistics, the actual numbers generated by those federal agencies themselves, and what Donald Trump has ordered based on his extreme assumption of acts of genuine national emergency, invasion, armed insurrection or rebellion, facts required before the President can take unilateral action without Congress and such that judicial scrutiny does not require due process in such deportations. If those facts giving rise to Trump’s deportations do not exist, then his executive orders and the efforts taken by federal agencies to follow such presidential orders are, to put it mildly… unlawful and subject to being banned, undone and reversed by federal courts. As a practical matter, Trump’s executive orders, triple the number of any other president, have been nullified by virtually every federal court that has ruled on their viability.

Let’s see whether the threat of fentanyl has risen so much in recent times to justify being labeled a national emergency. Let’s start with a realization of how dangerous and pervasive the use of fentanyl has become here. “In a statement, the CDC noted that overdoses are still the leading cause of death for people 18 to 44 years old, ‘underscoring the need for ongoing efforts to maintain this progress.’” Associated Press, May 15th. That could be enough, in the minds of many, to justify making the containment of fentanyl a national emergency. However, emergencies are, by definition, extreme events happening over a relatively short period of time… and thus cannot be threats that are rapidly dissipating.

Thus, it is hard to maintain that fentanyl just became a national emergency when: “There were 30,000 fewer U.S. drug overdose deaths in 2024 than the year before — the largest one-year decline recorded… That’s down 27% from the 110,000 in 2023….” AP, citing CDC statistics. “Federal statistics show US border authorities seized 21,889 pounds of fentanyl in the 2024 fiscal year. Of that amount, 43 pounds were seized at the Canadian border — about 0.2% — compared with 21,148 pounds at the Mexican border, about 96.6%.” CNN New, May 1st.

We know there’s no sudden increase in fentanyl trafficking, so, we need to examine that southern border to assess the level of that purported “invasion.” Maintaining secure borders from a mass of humanity that could be viewed as an “invading force,” thus allowing the President to invoke the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, suspending habeas corpus and the requirement of due process as a condition to detain and deport such “enemy aliens” under the authority of the Executive Branch alone.

I think the headline on a May 1st article on CBS News by Camilo Montoya-Galvez really says it all: “Migrant crossings at U.S.-Mexico border stay at historically low levels 3 months into Trump crackdown.” Uh oh, another statistic reflecting an improvement in the flow of undocumented aliens crossing into the United States along our Mexican border. In fact, that reduction had already begun in the last year or two of the Biden administration, but if that border were no longer a migrant river overflowing its banks, it would not suit Trump’s claim of a criminal invasion.

Between “whatever you say, sir” from Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem and a man with a most sadistic glint in his eye, Tom “Border Tsar” Homan, the Trump administration had to amp up the claims of a criminal invasion, from MS 13 (which was born in Los Angeles and transported to El Salvador) to the dreaded Venezuelan Tren de Aragua ‘violent robber barons’ gang. The latter was held out to be a particularly dangerous and ultra-violent force. That latter criminal gang, new to the scene, was also the real invader. They worked across 16 states, 5,000 strong at their peak. But for a nation with 330 million people, that’s a pretty small number… and unlikely to send images of beach landings and arial bombardment.

So, Trump’s peeps had to work hard to figure out to turn a minor trickle into seeming like a major flood. They didn’t need photographs like the one above showing peace and quiet with almost no crossers. “The apprehensions reported in February, March and April are the lowest tallies recorded by the Border Patrol in its public monthly dataset, which stretches back to fiscal year 2000. The last time Border Patrol averaged fewer than 9,000 monthly apprehensions along the southern border over a year was in the late 1960s, according to historical agency figures.” CBS News. So, what’s a number fabricator and fear monger like Donald Trump to do?

“Arguing that the country is facing an ‘invasion,’ the president has all but shuttered the American asylum system, authorizing U.S. border officials to rapidly deport migrants to Mexico or their home countries, without court hearings. Thousands of additional active-duty troops have been deployed to fortify the southern border and, in some cases, detain migrants… The Trump administration has also dismantled Biden-era programs that allowed some migrants to enter the U.S. legally, arguing that the policies were contrary to federal immigration law.” CBS News.

So, what if we could create a massive new military base as a southern border barrier to that horde of nasty criminal migrants? The existence of such a barrier might convince most of Americans that there must be an invasion “out there.” As Luis Martinez, writing for the April 15th ABC News tells us: “President Donald Trump sent a presidential memorandum to Cabinet secretaries directing them to devise a plan to take jurisdiction over federal lands to combat illegal border crossings…. U.S. Army soldiers will soon be patrolling a 170-mile buffer zone along the southern border with Mexico in a newly created ‘National Defense Area’ in Arizona and New Mexico.

“It's part of the Trump administration's efforts to use the U.S. military to stop the flow of undocumented migrants into the United States… The large swath of area will stretch 60-feet-deep along federal lands running the length of the border and will be considered a part of Fort Huachuca in Arizona, meaning that, just as at any Army base, trespassers would be apprehended by soldiers and held until turned over to law enforcement.

“Some analysts see it as a way to militarize the border and skirt a federal law -- the Posse Comitatus Act -- that prohibits U.S. military personnel from carrying out law enforcement duties: by declaring the federal property a military base where migrants crossing into can be detained.” Indeed, Trump was twisting and squirming to side-step the US Constitution and laws that held the line against obviously negating the rights of all peoples within our borders. But once again, no invasion, no out-of-control hordes storming a federal military base… and no justification for terminating oh-so-many rights we hold near and dear. 

I’m Peter Dekom, and it is incumbent on our Congress and our federal judiciary to rein in a rogue President who wants total control… and preserve the very Constitution, that made and keeps America great, untainted, intact and untarnished.