Could Trump really deport one million immigrants?
Trump has promised to deport up to a million undocumented immigrants if he’s re-elected. His campaign says this could start with “one million” and then increase, blaming current policies for not dealing with illegal immigration effectively.
However, experts warn this plan faces huge legal and practical challenges. The US currently has around 11 million undocumented immigrants, many of whom have been in the country for over ten years. Deporting such a large number would require a major expansion of the immigration court system, which is already overloaded.
Local police cooperation, especially from “sanctuary cities” that limit their assistance to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), would be crucial but difficult to achieve. Immigration advocates also worry about the human cost, like separating families and disrupting communities.
Logistically, even if Trump could overcome these challenges, deporting one million people would need massive resources. ICE’s budget for deportations is much smaller than what would be needed for such a large scale. The process would also be slow, requiring identification, detention, and legal proceedings for each person.
Additionally, Trump’s plan could face significant public backlash and high costs. Deporting such large numbers would likely result in troubling media coverage of families being separated and could have major political repercussions.
The BBC points out that past mass deportation efforts, like those under the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s, faced substantial obstacles and public opposition, making such a large-scale operation difficult in today’s context.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce9z0lm48ngo