Shock and Awful: Unsparing, Indiscriminate, and Costly Mass Deportations

Read for 7 key points about mass deportation agenda to come; 

Access online version of this press release HERE

Washington, DC — Donald Trump and team are preparing for unsparing, indiscriminate, and costly mass deportations as their signature policy of the second term. It’s a terrifying but logical conclusion when taking stock of the Trump administration appointments and nominees, their leaked and announced plans and Day One policy priorities, and the Trump world’s past and ongoing comments and plans.

The following is a statement from Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:

“The Trump team is moving forward with their mass deportation intentions and all of us need to take it seriously. They plan to unleash their awful campaign against American communities from the moment the new administration takes charge, with the resulting fear and cruelty a feature and not a bug. They are promising to end immigration enforcement priorities so that instead they can detain and deport anyone. They are also seeking to strip protections from immigrants with various forms of legal status so that the new administration can target them as well. The appointments of Stephen Miller and Tom Homan to non-Senate confirmed positions is a signal that they want to go for maximum disruption with minimal oversight by Congress or the courts. Trump and his allies want to expand the definition of ‘criminal’ and make as many people as possible deportable. The plan will exact a high human and economic cost on our communities, including hiking the bills of Trump voters animated by inflation. All of us should be clear-eyed and prepare for what is coming to American communities in the new year.”

Below are seven key points and signals about the Trump’s mass deportation agenda:

• Their goal is to make as many immigrants as possible deportable, no matter their current legal status. The Trump pledge for the “largest deportation operation in the history of our country” would include not just recent arrivals, but a much more sweeping vision involving deporting immigrants even if they have legal status or have deep roots in this nation. This includes those with current legal status – including current TPS holders, such as Haitians in Springfield, OH; Dreamers with DACA protections and work permits; and spouses of U.S. citizens eligible for the Keeping Families Together (Parole in Place) process.

• End of enforcement priorities are a tell that targeting will not be directed against “criminals.” Despite continued claims by Trump allies to walk back the scale of mass deportations and promises to target supposed criminals, the Trump team is simultaneously pledging to get rid of common sense enforcement priorities that direct ICE enforcement against bad actors, and not grandmothers and Dreamers. It’s a tell that their definition of “criminal” will look fundamentally different from most Americans’ conception.

• Redefining who is an American. The Trump team has even advanced the chilling concepts of “denaturalization” and “remigration,” (see this important Mother Jones article for some of the chilling details). Trump allies also are highlighting a potential push to seek to gut the 14th amendment, end birthright citizenship, and redefine who gets to be an American citizen. This fits within the larger deportation agenda and the broader MAGA effort to reshape America’s future.

• Believe the words of Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, and Tom Homan about what’s to come:

• • Donald Trump himself has consistently pledged the largest deportation operation in U.S. history and has said the targets of mass deportation would include “a woman with two children, three children” and pledged that “getting them out will be a bloody story.”
  • Stephen Miller has called for the building of mass detention camps “on open land in Texas near the border” and, as HuffPost detailed, in “multiple interviews, Miller has ‘gleefully described daily flights out of the camps to all corners of the world, an undertaking he said would be ‘greater than any national infrastructure project’ in American history.'”
  • Tom Homan has said that “no one is off the table;” boastfully noting that after “Trump comes back in January, I’ll be on his heels coming back, and I will run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen … They ain’t seen shit yet. Wait until 2025;” and on CBS’s “60 Minutes” in late October, Homan stated that “Families can be deported together.” As journalist Ron Brownstein noted of Homan’s remarks, “I’m not sure people are grasping the full implication of what he’s saying here: that to avoid family separation in mass deportation, Trump would also remove millions of US citizen children-a prospect that takes his deportation plan much deeper into the realm of ethnic cleansing.”

• Take stock of the appointments and nominations, including of Pete Hegseth. The Trump team has noted mass deportations would involve deploying red state National Guard troops in blue state communities and mass detention camps run by the military. The announcement that unqualified Trump loyalist and Fox host Pete Hegseth will be the nominee for Secretary of Defense is a disturbing selection that could have ramifications for this component of mass deportations. Meanwhile, the nomination of Gov. Kristi Noem for DHS Secretary and Stephen Miller and Tom Homan to major immigration policy positions that will not require Senate confirmation are more disturbing signals.

• The costs for all Americans – including Trump voters: New York Times columnist and Nobel economist Paul Krugman noted in his recent column that voters who were animated by inflation concerns will see their grocery bills rise further because of Trump’s mass deportations. An American Immigration Council report on the costs of mass deportation finds it would cause GDP to drop by 4.2-6.8%, which is more than the Great Recession (see here). And also read The Boston Globe op-ed from leading expert Michael Ettlinger, “Trump’s plan to vaporize the economy” and find related economic analyses: “Literature Review on the Economic Consequences of the Deportation of Unauthorized Immigrants,” by Robert G. Lynch (Washington College – Department of Economics) and Michael Ettlinger (University of New Hampshire) and “The Economic Impact on Citizens and Authorized Immigrants of Mass Deportation” by Robert Lynch and Michael Ettlinger.

• What immigrants and immigrant allies can and should do: Pro-immigrant advocates and allies are beginning to assemble to tools to help immigrants exercise due process rights under the law to defend themselves from deportation:

• • Know Your Rights and related resources for immigrants are already in circulation, including resources from NILC and ACLU
  • Mayors, Governors and other officials are beginning to take action to resist the mass deportation economic and humanitarian crisis that Trump is promising. See for example: “Democratic Governors Form a Group to Oppose the Trump Administration.”
  • Look for additional organizing from faith, business and labor organizations, as well as pro-immigrant advocates, to help resist the potential damage of mass deportation to American communities and well-being.

Follow Vanessa Cárdenas and America’s Voice on Twitter: @VCardenasDC and @AmericasVoice

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