Former President Donald Trump revealed his current stance about U.S. borders this week in a series of comments – including one about the BORDER911 project.
“Big announcement! Introducing BORDER911 – your source for LIVE coverage of our nation’s open borders,” he said Friday in a Truth Social post. “Tom Homan and a fantastic team are behind this. Let’s support their efforts and get real-time coverage like never before! Go to border911.com/. Join us in making it HUGE!”
Homan is the former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He was appointed to the position by Trump.
“The BORDER911 team is a group of the most distinguished border security experts that have ever come together for a common mission. They are all proven leaders in illegal immigration, border security, national security, terrorism investigations, sex trafficking, narcotics investigations, and criminal cartel operations,” said the BORDER911 project website.
Their mission is to “educate Americans on the facts of border security,” and they claim that the media and the Biden administration “are not explaining the facts and not transparent on this issue.”
According to Reuters, Trump also told supporters in Iowa Wednesday that he plans to send thousands of overseas-based troops to the U.S.-Mexico border if he’s elected in 2024.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is also vying to be the 2024 candidate has also said he’ll send troops to the U.S. border to fight drug cartels if he is elected. This May, he even announced that he would deploy more than 1,100 “assets,” including soldiers and law enforcement officers, to aid border security in Texas.
During his visit to Iowa, Trump promised to expand on a travel ban that barred people from several countries with majority Muslim populations from entering the U.S. that he enacted while he was in office. He also touted his border security record.
“Monthly SW Border Encounters are UP 348% under Crooked Joe Biden as compared to TRUMP. Disgraceful!” said Trump, currently the GOP frontrunner for the 2024 election, in a Thursday Truth Social post.
However, the Government Accountability Office watchdog group recently issued a report that revealed the negative impact of the former president’s actions at the border, specifically his border wall project.
“The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Department of Defense (DOD) installed about 458 miles of border barrier panels across the southwest border from January 2017 through January 2021. Most (81%) of the miles of panels replaced existing barriers,” said the report. “The agencies installed over 62% of barrier miles on federal lands, including on those managed by the Department of the Interior. Interior and CBP officials, as well as federally recognized Tribes and stakeholders, noted that the barriers led to various impacts, including to cultural resources, water sources, and endangered species, and from erosion.”
As Trump doubles down on his border security rhetoric, WBBM reported this week that “several immigrant groups applauded the Biden Administration’s decision to give nearly 500,000 migrants from Venezuela permission to temporarily live and work in the U.S. legally.”