Donald Trump has bragged every month since returning to the presidency in January that his administration has drastically curtailed illegal entry to our country at the southern border. He often claims – falsely, of course – to have set some kind of record there.

Now we find out if Trump, on April 20, will invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deal with what he called on his first day in office "a national emergency at the southern border." Trump has already invoked archaic federal laws to curb immigration while also having the military take over land along the border.

Call that the Trump triple play – he declares an emergency, then proclaims to have remedied the emergency, and then demands expansive powers to deal with the emergency that he claims to have already resolved.

Trump couldn't care less about logical disconnects. His sole focus is on expanding the power of his presidency. He'd never let facts – or his own proclamations – block that path.

In his Jan. 20 executive order declaring an emergency at the southern border, Trump set a 90-day deadline for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to submit a joint report on conditions at the border, "including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act........

© USA TODAY