Donald Trump promises to 'seal up' America's borders as he targets migrants in election victory speech

US President-elect could limit illegal migrants and deport millions without required documents

Donald and Melania Trump at an election night watch party in Palm Beach, Florida. AP

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US President-elect Donald Trump suggested he would follow through on his promises on immigration as he declared victory during a campaign watch party in Florida on Wednesday.

Concerns about immigration, particularly irregular migration through the US's southern border with Mexico, was one of the key issues during the campaign, alongside the economy and abortion rights.

“We have a country that needs help and it needs help very badly. We’re going to fix our borders and we’re going to fix everything about our country,” Mr Trump said during his speech at West Palm Beach.

He also paid tribute to the diverse set of voters, including “Arab Americans and Muslim Americans” who he said were “united around a core of common sense”. “We want to have borders, we want to have security”, he told his supporters.

He also promised America will "seal up" its borders but let people enter legally. "We want people to come back in, but we have to, we have to let them come back in. But they have to come in legally,” he said.

Many fear that the return of Mr Trump to the White House could result in large scale deportations of many of the estimated 11 million undocumented migrants living in the country. With control of the Senate and the House of Representatives, Mr Trump would have leverage to introduce draconian measures to send migrants back over the border.

Trump touts support from Muslim and Arab American voters in victory speech

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At a campaign event earlier this month, Mr Trump said he would call on congress to fund an additional 10,000 Border Patrol agents, a substantial increase over the existing force. He has also vowed to take aggressive new steps to deport immigrants with criminal records and suspected gang members by using the obscure 1789 Alien Enemies Act.

During a rally in Wisconsin in September, Mr Trump said deporting migrants would be “a bloody story”, words that sparked criticism from immigrant advocates. He has also said he would use the National Guard to assist with deportations.

Earlier, this year Mr Trump's running mate JD Vance said in an interview with The New York Times that deporting one million migrants would be “reasonable”.

President Joe Biden was elected in 2019 by promising to end contentious border policies introduced by Mr Trump in his first term that separated families at the border. However, he struggled to contain the crisis with an estimated eight million so-called “encounters” with illegal migrants during his term.

Last year, 468,000 migrants were deported to their home countries or returned to Mexico by US immigration authorities.

Earlier this year, the house committee on border security said that 1.7 million so-called “gotaways” – people who have evaded Border Patrol agents – were now living in the US without documentation and without being vetted by immigration officials.

During his first term in office, Mr Trump was widely criticised after issuing an executive order, known as the “Muslim ban”, which severely curtailed migration, particularly refugee admissions, from seven nations in Africa and the Middle East: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The US-Mexico border in Nogales, Arizona. AP

In October last year, Mr Trump hinted that similar proposals could be introduced in his second term, pledging to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and “anywhere else that threatens our security”.

During that speech, Trump focused on the conflict in Gaza, saying he would bar the entry of immigrants who support Hamas and send deportation officers to pro-Hamas protests.

In Arizona, voters on Wednesday approved a proposition that would allow local police to arrest migrants suspected of crossing the border from Mexico, further encroaching on the federal government's power over immigration enforcement.

Mr Trump said last year that he would seek to end automatic citizenship for children born in the US to immigrants living in the country illegally, an idea he flirted with as president.

Mr Trump's win could also force foreign students to look elsewhere to study. However, he has previously backed giving green cards to foreign students so long as they were highly skilled and their presence did not take jobs from American workers.