To Our Western Allies, Take a Page From President Trump’s Immigration Strategy

Originally published by RealClear World

The Trump administration is once again demonstrating what happens when a nation decides to defend its sovereignty unapologetically.

When foreign governments refuse to take back their own citizens who are living in the U.S. illegally—some of them violent criminals—it’s a direct assault on American sovereignty and public safety. For decades, Washington tolerated this defiance, allowing foreign governments to dictate the limits of U.S. immigration enforcement. President Trump changed that, and in doing so, provided a roadmap for Western allies now facing the same crisis.

Under U.S. law, if a foreign national cannot be deported within six months, federal authorities are often forced to release them into American communities, regardless of their criminal record. This loophole, established by the Supreme Court’s 2001 Zadvydas v. Davis decision, essentially means that every time a foreign country refuses to take back its citizens, the U.S. loses its ability to enforce the law. And in the classic ‘you can just do things,’ way, President Trump decided that era was over. His administration has leveraged the diplomatic and economic tools in the toolbox—from visa sanctions and travel bans to tariffs and third-country deportations—to compel cooperation. The results speak for themselves: deportation flights resumed to Venezuela, Colombia, and even Iran, as governments realized the costs of defiance outweighed the benefits of posturing.

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