Donald Trump has promised, if reelected, on the very first day of his second term he will begin “mass deportations” of the “nearly 20 million” illegal migrants who have invaded our nation.
But what would it take for Trump to carry out such a bold and ambitious plan?
Though he is adamant it must happen, the Trump campaign hasn’t addressed the staggering resources required to make it happen. It would involve, he’s indicated, local law enforcement, the National Guard, and more.
“We have no choice,” Trump told Newsmax host Chris Salcedo last week. “And we’ll start with the bad ones. And you know who knows who they are: local police.”
“Local police have to be given back their authority, and they have to be given back their respect and immunity,” he stated. “We’re going to give them immunity.”
The scale of such an endeavor is “massive.”
Trump “recently indicated in a TIME Magazine interview that he would leverage local law enforcement, the National Guard and the military to carry out his plan — similar to the dragnet-style sweeps of ‘Operation Wetback’ under former President Dwight Eisenhower that shipped more than 1 million migrants out in 1954,” the New York Post reports. “… But carrying out an operation that large would require a massive expansion of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, collaboration with the State Department and a boost in funding from Congress, former ICE officials tell The Post.”
While the US Census Bureau estimates there are 11 million illegal migrants in the States, NumbersUSA’s director of research, Eric Ruark, agrees with Trump’s “20 million” claim, stating it’s “not an unreasonable estimate.”
“There’s probably between 15 and 20 million, given the number of people we’ve seen coming over,” he told The Post.
Tom Homan served as acting director of ICE under the former president.
The agency has “systems in place that are very good at identifying people,” he said. How quickly they could start deporting them would depend on the resources available.
“A lot of that is going to be up to Congress … We need officers, we need detention beds, we need transportation contracts … because [we would have] more flights heading out of the country and more bus removals down to the border,” Homan said.
“We would still prioritize criminals and national security threats first, they are the most dangerous for the country,” he added. “But I would say no one is off the table. If you’re in this country illegally… then we’ll remove you.”
Homan said he’d “strongly consider” returning to work in a second Trump administration if he is asked.
Though “there’s no doubt that ICE would benefit from a significant increase in officers, agents and detention space,” Jon Feere, former ICE chief of staff under Trump, said, the agency could already be detaining more migrants than are currently being held under the Biden administration.
ICE, he argued, already has the capacity to do so.
“This effort will likely include city-wide operations where officers from different parts of the country are brought in to conduct work site investigations and make arrests within the course of weeks within in any given jurisdiction,” Feere said.
“This will require a whole government approach,” he explained. “Every part of the government that has a nexus to immigration has a role to play here. From Health and Human Services, to the State Department, to US Citizenship and Immigration Services, every part of the government can assist in reducing illegal immigration.”
“Feere also said that ‘I’m sure I will be’ involved ‘in some capacity’ if Trump takes office, but did not say what role he might play,” The Post reports.
Despite his best intentions, Trump’s deportation goals could face several roadblocks.
“Apart from the reluctance of a possible Democratic-run Congress to fund enhanced enforcement operations, a Trump administration could run into hurdles deporting migrants to their countries of origin if those governments refuse re-entry,” The Post notes.
The former ICE officials told the outlet “that problem would have to be solved through the work of the State Department, along with a hardline foreign policy.”
The State Department could use Section 243(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to issue visa sanctions against countries that refuse to take back their citizens, Feere suggested.
“When a country hears that the United States will not allow its residents in if they don’t take their people back, those countries quickly cooperate,” he predicted.
And then there’s the issue of the so-called “sanctuary cities” that have cropped up across the nation.
“ICE would prefer that all states and cities cooperate with federal law enforcement,” Feere warned. “But those that choose not to are going to see an increase in operations within their communities.
“ICE will have no choice but to conduct large operations.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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