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Comment by James Roberts on November 16, 2019 at 1:23pm

Diana - There's all manner of things he could do via executive order. And by appointments. He appointed an open border advocate to head the parent administration over Border Patrol.  I wish he was this great hero, but it is just too against my nature to go along with anything because it's popular, in opposition to the facts.

Breitbart

April 2017

The Trump Administration rewarded Border Patrol agents for their support of Trump as president by picking an Obama holdover whom they despise to be their boss. Trump chose the Obama-hired Customs and Border deputy who was tasked with enacting Obama’s open border vision to lead the parent agency of Border Patrol, Customs and Border Protection (CBP). All of the Border Patrol agents who spoke with Breitbart Texas Managing Director Brandon Darby from all nine Southwest border sectors expressed feeling betrayed or otherwise hurt by Trump choosing a man who did so much damage to them to be their new boss. Many expressed regret for having supported Trump in the first place and for having believed he would actually listen to them and care about what they experienced while risking their lives for other Americans.

The feelings of betrayal come just days after the announcement of Obama-hire Kevin McAleenan as the next Commissioner of CBP.

Comment by Parrhesia on November 16, 2019 at 9:11am

Under our Constitution, Congress has plenary authority over immigration. The president only has the authority delegated to him by Congress – and Congress has never given the president the power to provide a pseudo-amnesty and government benefits to illegal aliens.  

Responding in October 2010 to demands that he implement immigration reforms unilaterally, Obama declared, "I am not king. I can't do these things just by myself." In March 2011, he said that with "respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations through executive order, that's just not the case." In May 2011, he acknowledged that he couldn't "just bypass Congress and change the (immigration) law myself. ... That's not how a democracy works."

So Trump does not have the authority to control immigration laws any more than Obama did - Congress does.  He will have to attempt to make a deal per the Constitution.