Op-Ed: Major General John King: President Trump is making America safe and secure again

President Donald J. Trump ran for the White House on the promise of securing our border, crushing the cartels, and getting criminal illegal aliens out of our country. Now that he’s back in office, that is exactly what he’s doing.

More troops and resources to the southern border? Check. Designating cartels as foreign terrorist organizations? Check. Reinstating the Remain in Mexico policy? Check. Canceling the CBP One app created by the Biden administration? Check. If you look past the media spin and celebrities crying for clicks on social media, you’ll see the real result of President Trump’s actions: a safer America.

Attempted border crossings cratered to dramatic lows in President Trump’s first week. As one person at the Department of Homeland Security said, “welcome to the Trump effect.” I’m not surprised in the slightest, because I know from personal experience.

I’m a retired two-star Major General in the Army National Guard. In the early days of President Trump’s first term, I was deployed to the southern border and helped implement the president’s initial border security policy. We made real progress in securing the border and stopping illegal border crossings.

That progress continued over President Trump’s first four years in office, but as we all know, the Biden-Harris administration undid all of it. Their only guiding principle was to do the opposite of everything President Trump did. The result was handing control of the border to the Narco Cartels and allowing unfettered illegal immigration — which included violent criminals and gang members.

Those consequences stretch far beyond our southern border.

Just as President Trump’s actions have led to a sharp downturn in border crossings, his actions empowering law enforcement are leading to fewer criminal illegal aliens on our streets.

In Los Angeles, a foreign fugitive wanted for homicide has been arrested. In Boston, an illegal alien who murdered his pregnant wife, only to be paroled months into a life sentence, has been apprehended. In Denver, dozens of criminals, including many connected with the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, have been arrested.

And who could forget the illegal immigrant with 17 criminal convictions who yelled obscenities about President Trump, praised Biden and Obama, and proclaimed he’s “not going back to Haiti” when arrested?

Sums it up, doesn’t it?

In addition to being a retired General in the Army National Guard, I’m also a career lawman who walked a beat in Atlanta and later served as police chief of one of Georgia’s most diverse communities. I know from firsthand experience how critical it is that we get criminal illegal aliens off our streets and back where they came from, so I’m glad to see the Trump administration taking the steps it promised here.

Finally, I commend President Trump for refusing to bend a knee to Colombia’s left-wing president and ensuring arrested illegal immigrants are returned to their country. He won this victory by leveraging America’s economic might — something far too few presidents have been willing to do.

All of that being said, there’s still a lot of work to be done, including in Congress.

The first step was taken when the Laken Riley Act was passed into law, making it easier to detain and deport illegal immigrants with a criminal record. There are two good follow ups to pass.

First, the Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, which would bar entry for migrants convicted of sex crimes or domestic violence — and deport those already here convicted of such crimes.

Second, the WALL Act, which would ensure completion of border wall construction that the Biden-Harris administration halted.

For his entire time in office, President Joe Biden ignored reality, made excuses, or blamed Congress for what was happening at the border. In two weeks’ time, President Trump has shown that the power to do something was there all along. Let’s keep it up, for a safer and more secure America.

General John King (ret.) served in the Army National Guard for more than 40 years, enlisting as a private and retiring as a Major General. Today, he serves as Georgia’s Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner and is the first Hispanic elected statewide in Georgia history.