Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, said president-elect Donald Trump’s strong border security message is being heard around the world and is already having an impact when it comes to deterring migrants from illegally making their way to the U.S. southern border.
Bensman said Trump’s pre-Election Day message to Mexico, for example, in which he threatened to impose hefty tariffs on the country if it does not work to curb the flow of immigration into the U.S. has already pressured the country to break up existing caravans with a goal of reaching the border.
“I think that caught [Mexican President Sheinbaum Pardo’s] attention,” Bensman explained on Thursday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Bensman said Trump’s nomination of former director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tom Homan to be the “border czar” has also sent a message to the world that illegal immigration will not be welcome during his administration.
Migrant caravan / Todd Bensman
“Tom Homan, after he was named border czar, went on the road with interviews telling the entire world of aspiring migrants that you’re going to get deported. He’s going to deport all of you. Don’t get too comfortable. We’re coming after you. That sort of talk, whether it proves out or not, they pay attention to talk like that. Everything that comes out of Washington, they’re listening to,” Bensman said.
Bensman added that Trump’s tapping of Homan to police the U.S. borders and oversee all deportations of illegal aliens back to their countries of origin was meant to be a “bull in a China shop.”
“I think Donald Trump wants a bull to smash everything in the China shop right away,” Bensman explained.
Looking towards the future, Bensman was optimistic that Trump’s immigration policies will begin to have an effect right away as they will not be “gummed up” in litigation as they were during the start of his first administration.
“A lot of his policies have already passed the litigation tests, they’ve been upheld by courts so they can go right into effect on day one. It’s not going to be like it was in 2017 where everything got gummed up,” Bensman said.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Images “Migrant Caravan” by Todd Bensman / CIS.
