Promise: Seal the Border

Promise:

“My very first day back in the White House, I will terminate every single open border policy of the Biden-Harris administration, and we will seal the border.”

Context:

First of all, let’s dispense with the notion that Biden has or had an “open border policy.” That’s a Trump lie. Biden DID reverse some inhumane Trump policies, such as forced family separation. The BBC did a nice comparison of Trump’s and Biden’s border policies¹. Todd Miller argued in The Nation that in fact, the U.S.-Mexico border is designed to be dangerous for profit, and may in fact be the deadliest border in the world.² It is by no means, “open.”

“Practically since his first week in office, President Joe Biden has faced repeated criticisms from Republicans and some Democrats that his border policy amounts to “open borders.” This criticism is not simply inaccurate: it is unhinged from reality in a way that distinguishes itself from normal political hyperbole. Indeed, U.S. immigration policy is effectively closed borders, and Biden’s immigration policies and goals are largely the same as those of President Donald Trump.” [Source]³.

Seriously, read the above article. Biden has admitted fewer refugees than Trump did, smashed all records for immediate expulsions without due process, and more. In short, Biden has been tougher on immigration than Trump overall, he just hasn’t been (as much of) an inhumane dick about it.

So what Trump is promising, here, is to restore the inhumane policies that Biden reversed. This would be restoring the Muslim travel ban, refusing to admit any refugees, bringing back the “remain in Mexico” policy, and more.

Feasibility:

Trump’s initial travel ban was ruled to be unconstitutional⁴, but with a corrupt and amenable Supreme Court in place, that doesn’t mean much going into the future. The Remain in Mexico policy has also faced pushback for legal⁵ and humanitarian reasons⁶.

He legally can’t restart the family separation policy, as ruled by a federal judge in 2023⁷ (the judge banned it for 8 years.) I supposed that could be overturned somehow, although it’s unclear to me why it wasn’t banned for good. Trump has defended the policy⁸, which he carried out so poorly and cruelly that there was no tracking process⁹ or records kept that would enable over 5,000 separated children to be reunited with their parents. 1,400 of them still haven’t been reunified¹⁴, despite efforts by the Biden administration that have reunited 3,200 children with their families.

Is it possible to “seal” the border? Assuming he’s using the term metaphorically, it would be almost impossible unless he’s also proposing restricting international air travel and not granting visas of any kind to anyone for any reason. 2019 was the 7th straight year that people who overstayed their legal visas account for 62% of undocumented immigrants¹⁰, compared to 38% who illegally crossed a border. So this one has an extremely low feasibility score.

Promise Kept?

I don’t know if he used the word “seal” during his first term, but either way, he certainly didn’t accomplish it. He didn’t build the wall¹¹ he promised over and over again. Trump’s fundraising efforts to make Americans pay for the wall after he (predictably) failed to make Mexico do it, were stolen by Steve Bannon¹². Brian Kolfage, a decorated Air Force veteran, was sentenced to more than four years in prison¹³ for his role in the scheme. Bannon should have gone too, but Trump pardoned him during his last hours in office. (Bannon later went to prison for state charges, which are not pardonable by the president.)

The little bit of wall he managed to build didn’t even work.¹⁵

So, not only did he spectacularly fail to keep his promise last time (and steal your money in the process, if you donated), time hasn’t made the idea any better or any more possible.

Is this promise of Trump's also mentioned in Project 2025?

Sources Cited:

Debusmann, Bernd Jr. (June 4, 2024), How Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s border policies compare, BBC.
Miller, Todd (November 22, 2023), Biden’s Supposed “Open-Border Policy” Does Not Exist, The Nation..
Bier, David J. (September 23, 2021), Biden’s Border Policy Is Not “Open Borders”, The Cato Institute.
The Associated Press (February 15, 2018), Trump’s travel ban is unconstitutional religious discrimination, US court rules, The Guardian.
Garcia, Uriel J. (June 30, 2022), Supreme Court rules Biden administration can end “remain in Mexico” policy, sending case back to a Texas court, The Texas Tribune.
June 6, 2022, Mexico: Asylum Seekers Face Abuses at Southern Border, Human Rights Watch.
Knutson, Jacob (December 8, 2023), Judge prohibits Trump-era migrant family separation policy for 8 years, Axios.
Acevedo, Enrique; Trump, Donald (November 9, 2023), Trump on Univision: the former president talks about the Latino vote, foreign policy and economy, Univision.
August 13, 2022, How a Trump-era policy that separated thousands of migrant families came to pass, PBS News.
Gonzales, Richard (January 16, 2019), For 7th Consecutive Year, Visa Overstays Exceeded Illegal Border Crossings, NPR.
Giles, Christopher (January 12, 2021), Trump’s wall: How much has been build during his term?, BBC.
Atkins, Chloe; Winter, Tom (July 24, 2024), Steve Bannon’s border wall fraud trial set for December, NBC News.
Offenhartz, Jake (April 26, 2023), We Build the Wall founder sentenced to 4 years in prison, Associated Press.
Bump, Philip (May 7, 2024), Six years later, 1,400 children remain separated from their families, Washington Post.
Bier, David J. (February 10, 2022), The Border Wall Didn’t Work, The Cato Institute.