The Trump administration’s border security efforts will hit the ground running in 2025, having defeated “lawfare” in the courts and Republican opposition in Trump’s first term, a former top official predicts while telling Fox News Digital that he is “willing and ready” to be part of the effort to secure the border.
Mark Morgan was the acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner in the Trump administration and was a critical official in the construction of hundreds of miles of border wall and the implementation of policies like “Remain-in-Mexico.”
He said that the Trump administration would likely repeat the same strategies at the border that pushed a combination of consequences for illegal entry and deterrence from entering.
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Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, Melania Trump and Barron Trump, arrive at an election night watch party, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“More importantly, we’re not going to be just reactive. We want to actually try to prevent the flow of illegal immigration, we want to go after the cartels to prevent the drugs from, you know, making it to our border. The border should be our last line of defense. That’s the same methodology, same strategy that we used in the first Trump administration that led to the most secure border in our lifetime,” he said.
But Morgan believes that this time, it will be more efficient. Trump struggled in his first term to overcome opposition in Congress to border wall construction, and he had to put structures and procedures in place. His policies saw a number of lawsuits in the courts.
“We already had a series, really a network of tools, authorities and policies in place that were already tested. We knew they worked,” Morgan said. “And equally important is they’d already gone through the continuum of lawfare.”
He pointed to Safe Third Country agreements and the Remain-in-Mexico policy as examples. He also noted that mass deportations had been conducted under the Trump administration, as well as administrations before that.
Migrants wait in line to be processed by the Border Patrol along the border wall after crossing the Rio Grande into El Paso, Texas. (HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
“So the statutory authority is already there. The foundation is already there. We’re just going to have to use it with a kind of a a good dose of whole-of-government steroids and just increase the magnitude of those operations,” he said.
Similarly, on border wall construction, there were over 450 miles built during the administration, and the foundations are there for more construction.
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“I’m hoping that there will be a national emergency declared, so that’s going to give and open up the opportunity to get funding from other resources that will help us get that started right away. We won’t have to wait for Congress. But in addition to that, we’ve already been there, right?” he said. “So we’ve already had the contracts before. We already have the design. We’ve already had the systems in place . . . the materials already sitting in there. Everything is going to be put in place at a much more exponentially rapid pace.”
He also said that he believes that with the strong victory of Trump in the election, and control of both chambers of Congress, that there will be more action in D.C.
“I think with the overwhelming victory and the degree of chaos, the lawlessness at our border that we’ve had over the past four years, I think those Republicans that have been resistant to strong border security action that have remained in the shadows, I think they’re going to be forced from those shadows,” he said. “And I think we have a really good shot at a permanent legislative reform and not just having to rely on executive orders.“
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He said that legislation in Congress could look like the House border security bill, known as HR2, but it could end up packaged differently to avoid Democratic resistance.
As for whether Morgan will be returning to government, he said that it would be inappropriate to speculate, but he said that “if the president calls, there’s only one answer.”
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“There’s only one person that’s going to select his cabinet and that’s going to be President Trump. So to presume that any of us know exactly what those names are going to be, I think is misleading, we don’t. But look, if he asks, I’m able, willing and ready, and I’d be absolutely thrilled to be part of the next administration to get this country back on track and specifically secure our borders.”
