Trump proposes tough penalties for human traffickers during border visits

Former US President Donald Trump vowed to “seal” the US-Mexico border and “stop the invasion” of migrants into the US during a visit to a section of the border wall in Arizona on Thursday.

At a news conference in Cochise County, on the Arizona-Sonora border, the Republican Party presidential candidate also vowed to impose the death penalty on large-scale drug traffickers if he is elected on Nov. 5.

🚨Trump unveils new policy on border crime

-10 years mandatory minimum sentence for anyone guilty of human trafficking

– Mandatory life imprisonment for anyone guilty of child trafficking

-Death penalty for anyone guilty of sex trafficking

-Death penalty for major drug dealers and… photo.twitter.com/FSAZga7Y7s

— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) August 22, 2024

In a speech just hours before Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Trump took aim at his opponent, accusing her of failing in her role as “border czar” and arguing that she wants an “open border.”

“If we win this November, we will end Kamala Harris’ nightmare at the border once and for all,” he said.

“…With your vote, we will close the border, stop the invasion, and launch the largest deportation effort in American history,” said Trump, who was joined by mothers of children killed during the Biden administration in cases where the suspects were illegal immigrants.

He claimed that Harris would allow “over 100 million illegal aliens into our country” if elected president. He also claimed that the United States would be “overrun” with migrants “and essentially cease to be a country.”

If Trump is re-elected — eight years after he defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election — his administration will “impose tough new penalties on illegal criminals.”

“These include mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years for anyone guilty of human trafficking, a guaranteed life sentence for anyone guilty of child trafficking, and the death penalty for anyone guilty of child or female sex trafficking,” he said.

“We will also impose the death penalty on major drug dealers and traffickers,” Trump added.

If his rhetoric were to become reality, Mexicans facing drug charges in the United States, such as alleged Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, could face the death penalty.

The situation at the border

During Joe Biden’s presidency, new records have been set for the number of migrants crossing the border and the number of illegal crossings into the United States. This year, however, the numbers have fallen.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection faced a record number of nearly 2.5 million migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in the 2023 budget year that ended last September.

The number of illegal border crossings reached a record high of almost 250,000 in December last year, but the number of encounters with migrants between border crossings fell to 56,408 last month, a 77.4% drop from a record high.

Data shows that illegal border crossings into the U.S. from Mexico declined for five consecutive months between March and July. But the biggest drop came after Biden issued an executive order in early June banning migrants from seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border when the number of crossings between legal points of entry is increasing.

The number of encounters with migrants between ports of entry fell by 29% in June compared to May, to 83,536, the lowest level since January 2021.

In July, the number of illegal border crossings recorded by US authorities fell by 32.5% compared to June, reaching the lowest level since September 2020.

Biden’s executive order — described by The New York Times as “the most restrictive border policy ever instituted by Mr. Biden or any other modern Democrat” — has clearly contributed to the decline in illegal border crossings in recent months. Yet enforcement against migrants in Mexico has also helped reduce the number of people arriving at the country’s northern border.

Hundreds of thousands of foreigners caught in Mexico without authorization have been taken to immigration detention centers this year, while others have been rounded up in various parts of the country and transported back to cities in southern Mexico, including Tapachula, Chiapas, just north of the Guatemalan border, where many migrants first enter Mexico.

According to the Associated Press news agency, some migrants have been sent “as many as six times” back to southern Mexico.

Data from the National Immigration Institute shows that Venezuelans made up the largest group of irregular migrants in Mexico in the first five months of the year, followed by Guatemalans, Hondurans, Ecuadorians and Haitians.

Harris: “I fought the cartels that traffic in guns, drugs and people”

During her speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night, Kamala Harris emphasized her experience as a prosecutor and vowed to “bring back the bipartisan border security bill” that “killed” Donald Trump.

“I have fought the cartels that traffic in guns, drugs and people — (the cartels) that threaten the security of our borders and the safety of our communities,” the vice president said as she recalled her work as a young prosecutor in Oakland, California.

“And I’ll tell you, these fights were not easy,” Harris said.

Later in her speech, she said she and Biden “brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades.”

“The Border Patrol supported it. But Donald Trump believes a border deal would hurt his campaign, so he instructed his allies in Congress to kill the deal,” Harris said.

“Well, I refuse to play politics with our security, and this is my promise to you. As president, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed, and I will sign it,” the Democratic Party candidate said.

“I know we can live up to our proud heritage as an immigrant nation and reform our broken immigration system, create an earned path to citizenship, and secure our borders,” Harris said.

The bipartisan border bill was blocked in the Senate in February after Trump encouraged Republicans to oppose it. The bill failed for a second time in May.

The program included more than $20 billion for border security, according to a White House fact sheet released in February.

“The agreement would provide critical resources at the border and significant policy changes,” the White House said, highlighting Border Patrol and asylum reforms, among other changes.

Mexico News Daily