Fresh Details Emerge About Trump's Plan For Mass Deportations

Ben Kew reporting for RedState 

The finer details behind Donald Trump's plan to deport millions of illegal immigrants are starting to emerge.

In a report published Sunday evening, Axios outlined how Trump plans to use the power of the state to forcibly deport millions of people with no legal right to be in the United States.

The outlet noted:

Donald Trump's plan to crack down on immigration includes using a range of tools to deport millions of people in the U.S. each year — from obscure laws to military funds to law enforcement officers from all levels of government.

History tells us such an effort would dramatically disrupt local communities and economies across the U.S. — and sow fear among the millions of people without legal status.

A source told Axios that Trump plans on realizing this by mobilizing numerous agencies, including ICE, FBI, DEA, federal prosecutors, the National Guard, and state law enforcement:

Fast-track deportations — now reserved for recent crossers encountered near the border — would be expanded to apply to anyone who illegally crossed the border and couldn't prove they'd been living in the U.S. for more than two years.

Trump would curtail the usual multistep deportation process by using an obscure section of the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts to immediately round up and deport some migrants with criminal histories. The military would build massive sites near the border to hold people awaiting deportation.

Among Trump's other targets will reportedly include sponsors of unaccompanied minors who crossed the border without their parents: 

The government releases migrant children to these sponsors, who typically are the children's relatives — some without legal status. Hundreds of thousands of people also have been admitted into the U.S. under Biden's use of "parole," a program guaranteeing protection for two years. Trump's plan could target those with expiring protection for quick deportation.

It is currently unclear how much Trump's plan would cost. However, it would not be the first time that the U.S. has carried out such a policy. Under the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower, U.S. authorities deported over one million undocumented Mexican immigrants in what was known as Operation Wetback. 

The plan will inevitably be met with far greater opposition than 70 years ago, with employers, community leaders and some religious institutions expected to push back and stifle the efforts of law enforcement.

Last November, The New York Times published a similar report explaining how Trump planned to construct camps to help speed up the deportation process: 

To help speed mass deportations, Mr. Trump is preparing an enormous expansion of a form of removal that does not require due process hearings. To help Immigration and Customs Enforcement carry out sweeping raids, he plans to reassign other federal agents and deputize local police officers and National Guard soldiers voluntarily contributed by Republican-run states.

To ease the strain on ICE detention facilities, Mr. Trump wants to build huge camps to detain people while their cases are processed and they await deportation flights. And to get around any refusal by Congress to appropriate the necessary funds, Mr. Trump would redirect money in the military budget, as he did in his first term to spend more on a border wall than Congress had authorized.

While such plans are undoubtedly more authoritarian in nature, many will consider them a necessary evil in order to restore a sense of credibility and fairness to America's immigration system. The policy would also help save the billions of dollars spent by both local and federal governments on accommodating illegal aliens every year. 

According to some estimates more than 10 million illegal immigrants have entered the country illegally since Joe Biden took office in 2021, many of whom have criminal records and links to organized crime.