Perhaps the first issue on Donald Trump’s priority list is immigration. President Trump has promised to mass deport millions of illegal immigrants if he wins the election.
During a rally in Colorado, President Trump said he would target “all illegal immigrant criminal networks operating on American soil.” His plan is to use a 1798 law “previously used to detain ‘enemy aliens'” during wartime, Axios said. Critics argue that the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 could also be used to detain “legal immigrants and their U.S.-born children.” But Trump’s spokesperson said Americans “want mass deportations of illegal immigrants and have the most confidence in President Trump on this issue.”
According to the Associated Press, President Trump has “long promised” to carry out widespread deportations. But his career as president revealed a “wide gap” between his proposals and the “legal, financial and political realities” of mass deportations. The largest deportation on record occurred in 2023 under President Barack Obama, with more than 400,000 people sent back to their home countries. President Trump has proposed deporting more than 11 million people. “Procedurally it’s going to be very complex and difficult,” said Joseph Nunn of New York University School of Law.
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“You have to do what you have to do.”
President Trump said large numbers of illegal immigrants are contributing to an increase in crime and drug trafficking in the United States. In an interview with Time magazine, he said that many of the immigrants “come from prisons, and a lot of them come from psychiatric hospitals.” He pointed out that in modern American history, mass deportations have occurred under President Dwight Eisenhower. A modern version of that effort would likely involve the National Guard or even the military, he said. “We have to do what we have to do to stop crime and stop what’s happening at our borders,” he said.
It will be expensive. “Arresting and deporting just 1 million people could cost taxpayers about $20 billion,” CBS News said in an analysis. Deporting 11 million people during a four-year presidential term would “cost more than 20 times as much” as the country spent on deportations over the previous five years. And critics say there will be other forms of radioactive fallout. Immigrants make up much of the U.S. agricultural workforce, and any disruption could “disrupt the U.S. food supply chain,” Quartz said. Similarly, home builders claim President Trump’s deportation plan will “increase the cost of housing,” NBC News reported.
Path to legal immigration narrows
According to the New York Times, President Trump is also targeting legal immigrants. The former president claimed that legal immigration programs created under President Biden, such as one that admitted Haitian refugees, are “allowing immigrants into the country who would otherwise be turned away.” are. Such moves come as Trump “narrowed” legal paths to asylum during his single term as president, and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which focuses on adults brought to the U.S. as children. This is consistent with President Trump’s efforts to end the
One aspect is clear. President Trump’s comments on immigration over the past decade have pushed the country to the right. “Public opinion towards immigration in general is deteriorating,” Christian Paz said at the box. Democrats have similarly reversed course, focusing more on border security than a path to citizenship. “Public sentiment has changed dramatically,” Paz said.
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