The American people spoke unequivocally and with one voice last November when they chose to send President Trump back to Washington, entrusting him with a mandate to deliver upon his promise to thwart the nation’s destructive trajectory that accelerated significantly under the Biden administration.

Chief among those issues that propelled the President back to the Oval Office was his unwavering commitment to solving our border crisis, exacerbated by four years of a migrant invasion that saw twenty-one million illegals enter the interior of the country. The now ten-year-old promise to build a wall along the southern border expanded into a robust call for mass deportations and remigration, which the President made clear would be a top priority of his second term.

Not only was this a central campaign promise, but it was the President’s Constitutional duty to carry out this mandate. Under Article II of the Constitution, the President “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

Over these past four years, Biden’s executive branch breached its duty to the American people by allowing border crossings to soar exponentially, rendering any meaningful enforcement authority toothless. Those living illegally within our country were enabled to do so with little repercussions and were afforded affirmative protections in defiance of federal immigration law.

Years of federal acquiescence and non-enforcement have emboldened those who protect the lawbreakers, and non-compliance in the form of sanctuary cities and counties across this nation is commonplace. Those who fail to follow federal law have become complicit in this national crisis, and the riots in Los Angeles, simply in response to law enforcement carrying out its duty, serve to demonstrate the severity of the issue. Without immediate, swift action, the illegal immigration crisis, made orders of magnitude worse under Biden’s administration, might never be resolved.

Accordingly, the Trump administration’s initiation of sweeping mass deportations is part and parcel of effective federal law enforcement – a fulfillment of this vital duty entrusted by our Founding Fathers to the chief magistrate. Under President Trump, lawbreakers will finally be held accountable. It necessarily follows that undue obstruction interferes with the President’s constitutional authority and denies the electoral victory granted by the people. 

Indeed, President Trump has successfully limited border crossings to record lows, leveraging existing executive powers – a stunning achievement that has already made America safer. In addition, Trump’s administration has helped to craft the One Big Beautiful Bill – a historic proposal as part of the budget reconciliation procedure that would force Washington to finally fulfill the wishes of those who elected them into office.

If signed into law, the One Big Beautiful Bill, which passed the House by a narrow margin and is currently awaiting a vote in the Senate, would represent a sea change in Washington and become the vehicle by which President Trump can continue to keep his central campaign promises to the American people. Among many other provisions, the bill allocates enough funding for the mass deportation operation, which an overwhelming majority of Americans support: hire enough border patrol agents, officers, and CBP officials to combat the surge of illegal migrant criminality and carry out the most significant operation in our nation’s history.

In addition, the bill will provide sufficient funding to complete the border wall once and for all, which is a permanent structure that will ensure the Biden-era invasion cannot be repeated in the future. By fortifying our homeland, this bill will pay dividends to the American people for generations to come. 

Indeed, whether a nation is capable of securing its physical boundaries is a first-order question, and a failure to do so suggests that the country has relinquished its sovereignty. This has been a consistent message from President Trump, whose mandate has always been one grounded in reclaiming American independence from the corrupt establishment class that opened our southern border for personal gain over the interests of the American people.

The voters fundamentally understand this principle, which is one of the reasons why President Trump’s victory was so decisive last November. From the moment Trump first announced his candidacy for the Presidency ten years ago this month, he identified this most pressing issue and promised to do everything in his power to end the lawlessness purveyed at the hands of our nation’s derelict leaders.

A problem of this magnitude, which strikes at the heart of the very fabric of the country itself, has a limited window for rectification. And time is running out.

Congress now must recognize the importance of this proposed legislation and pass this bill. President Trump campaigned and won specifically on building the wall, closing the border, and initiating the largest deportation operation this country has ever seen. Unlike the permanent Washington class, President Trump fully intends to fulfill the promises he made on the campaign trail. This bill would enable each of those promises made to be kept, consistent with the strong mandate Republicans received in 2024. The One Big Beautiful Bill that passed the House was crafted especially for this moment in America’s history: it is now in Congress’s hands to act accordingly.

Olivia Ingrassia is a 2025 graduate of NYU Law.