POR EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA

UNA PROCLAMACIÓN

En virtud de la autoridad que me confieren como Presidente la Constitución y las leyes de los Estados Unidos de América, por la presente proclamo:

Una característica esencial de cualquier nación soberana es la existencia de límites territoriales y la autoridad inherente para decidir quién y qué puede cruzar esos límites. La Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos ha descrito este poder como un “acto fundamental de soberanía”, que “no surge solo del poder legislativo sino que es inherente al poder ejecutivo para controlar los asuntos exteriores de la nación”.  US ex rel. Knauff v. Shaughnessy , 338 US 537, 542 (1950). La Corte Suprema ha reconocido el derecho y el deber inherentes del Poder Ejecutivo de defender nuestra soberanía nacional, al afirmar que “[c]uando el Congreso prescribe un procedimiento relativo a la admisibilidad de extranjeros, no está tratando solo con un poder legislativo. Está implementando un poder ejecutivo inherente”.   Id.

El Congreso, al establecer “una regla uniforme de naturalización”, ha creado un esquema federal complejo y completo en la Ley de Inmigración y Nacionalidad (INA), 8 USC 1101 et seq ., para controlar la entrada y salida de personas y bienes a través de las fronteras de los Estados Unidos. En circunstancias rutinarias, este esquema complejo y completo puede proteger la soberanía nacional de los Estados Unidos al facilitar la admisión de individuos cuya presencia sirve al interés nacional y evitar la admisión de aquellos que no lo hacen, como aquellos extranjeros que representan amenazas para la salud pública, sección 212(a)(1) de la INA, 8 USC 1182(a)(1); la seguridad, sección 212(a)(2) (8 USC 1182(a)(2)); y la seguridad nacional, sección 212(a)(3) (8 USC 1182(a)(3)). Los inmigrantes potenciales que utilizan el sistema de visas son examinados en cuanto a cuestiones de salud, seguridad y protección mientras están fuera de los Estados Unidos, y no se les permite ingresar al país hasta que establezcan que son elegibles para ser admitidos como una cuestión de ley y que deben ser admitidos como una cuestión de discreción.

Pero la evaluación bajo esas disposiciones de la INA puede ser completamente ineficaz en el entorno fronterizo, donde el acceso a la información necesaria es limitado para los extranjeros que han viajado desde países de todo el mundo para ingresar ilegalmente a los Estados Unidos, o cuando el sistema está sobrecargado, lo que lleva al ingreso no autorizado de innumerables extranjeros ilegales a los Estados Unidos.

Due to significant information gaps — particularly in the border environment — and processing times, Federal officials do not have the ability to verify with certainty the criminal record or national-security risks associated with the illegal entry of every alien at the southern border, as required by section 212(a)(2)-(3) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2)-(3).  Nor do aliens who illegally cross the southern border readily provide comprehensive background information from their home countries to Federal law enforcement officials.

The public safety and national security risks in such an environment are heightened by the presence of, and control of territory by, international cartels and other transnational criminal organizations on the other side of the southern border, as well as terrorists and other malign actors who intend to harm the United States and the American people.  And the risks associated with these issues are greatly exacerbated when the number of aliens illegally crossing the southern border increases to levels that prevent actual operational control of the border.

The same is true for public health, where the Federal Government currently lacks an effective operational capability to screen all illegal aliens crossing the southern border for communicable diseases of public-health concern, as required by section 212(a)(1) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(1).  Effectively no aliens who illegally enter the United States provide Federal officials at the southern border with their comprehensive health information, as a lawful immigrant would.  As a result, innumerable aliens potentially carrying communicable diseases of public health significance illegally cross the southern border and enter communities across the United States.

Over the last 4 years, at least 8 million illegal aliens were encountered along the southern border of the United States, and countless millions more evaded detection and illegally entered the United States.  The sheer number of aliens entering the United States has overwhelmed the system and rendered many of the INA’s provisions ineffective, including those previously described that are intended to prevent aliens posing threats to public health, safety, and national security from entering the United States.  As a result, millions of aliens who potentially pose significant threats to health, safety, and national security have moved into communities nationwide.

This ongoing influx of illegal aliens across the southern border of the United States has placed significant costs and constraints upon the States, which have collectively spent billions of dollars in providing medical care and related human services, and have spent considerable amounts on increased law enforcement costs associated with the presence of these illegal aliens within their boundaries.

In joining the Union, the States agreed to surrender much of their sovereignty and join the Union in exchange for the Federal Government’s promise in Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, to “protect each of [the States] against Invasion.”  I have determined that the current state of the southern border reveals that the Federal Government has failed in fulfilling this obligation to the States and hereby declare that an invasion is ongoing at the southern border, which requires the Federal Government to take measures to fulfill its obligation to the States.

The INA provides the President with certain emergency tools.  For example, it states that “[w]henever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.”  8 U.S.C. 1182(f).  This statute “exudes deference to the President in every clause.”  Trump v. Hawaii, 585 U.S. 667, 684 (2018).  Further, the INA renders it unlawful for “any alien to depart from or enter or attempt to depart from or enter the United States except under such reasonable rules, regulations, and orders, and subject to such limitations and exceptions as the President may prescribe.”  8 U.S.C. 1185(a)(1).

Historically, Presidents have used these statutory authorities to deny entry of designated classes and categories of aliens into the United States through ports of entry.  But if the President has the power to deny entry of any alien into the United States, and to impose any restrictions as he may deem appropriate, this authority necessarily includes the right to deny the physical entry of aliens into the United States and impose restrictions on access to portions of the immigration system, particularly when the number of aliens illegally crossing the southern border prevents the Federal Government from obtaining operational control of the border.

The INA does not, however, occupy the Federal Government’s field of authority to protect the sovereignty of the United States, particularly in times of emergency when entire provisions of the INA are rendered ineffective by operational constraints, such as when there is an ongoing invasion into the States.  The President’s inherent powers to control the borders of the United States, including those deriving from his authority to control the foreign affairs of the United States, necessarily include the ability to prevent the physical entry of aliens involved in an invasion into the United States, and to rapidly repatriate them to an alternative location.  Only through such measures can the President guarantee the right of each State to be protected against invasion.

By the power vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, I have determined that the current situation at the southern border qualifies as an invasion under Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution of the United States.  Accordingly, I am issuing this Proclamation based on my express and inherent powers in Article II of the Constitution of the United States, and in faithful execution of the immigration laws passed by the Congress, and suspending the physical entry of aliens involved in an invasion into the United States across the southern border until I determine that the invasion has concluded.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, hereby direct as follows:

Section 1.  Suspension of Entry.  I hereby proclaim, pursuant to sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a), that the entry into the United States on or after the date of this order of aliens engaged in the invasion across the southern border is detrimental to the interests of the United States.  I therefore direct that entry into the United States of such aliens be suspended until I issue a finding that the invasion at the southern border has ceased.

Sec. 2.  Imposition of Restrictions on Entry for Aliens Invading the United States.  I hereby proclaim, pursuant to sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a), that aliens engaged in the invasion across the southern border of the United States on or after the date of this proclamation are restricted from invoking provisions of the INA that would permit their continued presence in the United States, including, but not limited to, section 208 of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1158, until I issue a finding that the invasion at the southern border has ceased.

Sec. 3.  Suspension of and Restriction on Entry for Aliens Posing Public Health, Safety, or National Security Risks.  I hereby proclaim, pursuant to sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a), that the entry into the United States, on or after the date of this order, of any alien who fails, before entering the United States, to provide Federal officials with sufficient medical information and reliable criminal history and background information as to enable fulfillment of the requirements of sections 212(a)(1)-(3) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(1)-(3), is detrimental to the interests of the United States.  I therefore direct that entry into the United States of such aliens be suspended and restrict their access to provisions of the INA that would permit their continued presence in the United States, including, but not limited to, section 208 of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1158.

Sección 4. Suspensión constitucional de la entrada física. En virtud de las facultades que me otorga el Artículo II de la Constitución de los Estados Unidos, incluido mi control sobre los asuntos exteriores, y para hacer efectiva la garantía de protección contra la invasión exigida por el Artículo IV, Sección 4, por la presente suspendo la entrada física de cualquier extranjero que participe en la invasión a través de la frontera sur de los Estados Unidos, y ordeno al Secretario de Seguridad Nacional, en coordinación con el Secretario de Estado y el Fiscal General, que tome las medidas adecuadas que sean necesarias para lograr los objetivos de esta proclamación, hasta que emita una constatación de que la invasión en la frontera sur ha cesado.

Sección 5. Acciones operativas para repeler la invasión. El Secretario de Seguridad Nacional, en coordinación con el Secretario de Estado y el Fiscal General, tomará todas las medidas apropiadas para repeler, repatriar o expulsar a cualquier extranjero que participe en la invasión a través de la frontera sur de los Estados Unidos a partir de la fecha de esta orden, ya sea como ejercicio del poder de suspensión en la sección 212(f) y 215(a) de la INA, 8 USC 1182(f) y 1185(a), o como ejercicio de mi autoridad delegada bajo la Constitución de los Estados Unidos, hasta que emita una constatación de que la invasión en la frontera sur ha cesado.

Sec. 6. Disposiciones generales. (a) Nada de lo dispuesto en esta proclamación se interpretará como que perjudica o afecta de otro modo:

(i) la autoridad otorgada por ley a un departamento o agencia ejecutiva, o al jefe del mismo; o

(ii ) las funciones del Director de la Oficina de Administración y Presupuesto relacionadas con propuestas presupuestarias, administrativas o legislativas.

(b) Esta proclamación se implementará de conformidad con la ley aplicable y sujeta a la disponibilidad de asignaciones.

(c) Esta proclamación no pretende, y no crea, ningún derecho o beneficio, sustantivo o procesal, exigible por ley o en equidad por ninguna de las partes contra los Estados Unidos, sus departamentos, agencias o entidades, sus funcionarios, empleados o agentes, o cualquier otra persona.

EN FE DE LO CUAL, firmo la presente este veinte de enero del año de Nuestro Señor dos mil veinticinco, y doscientos cuarenta y nueve de la Independencia de los Estados Unidos de América.