Trump's mass deportation plan easier said than done, immigration lawyer says
President-elect Donald Trump says on the first day of his presidency he will deport millions who are in the country illegally.
Trump has called it "the largest domestic deportation operation in American history."
Houston immigration lawyer Charles Foster, an immigration advisor for George W. Bush and Barack Obama, says the task is easier said than done.
"It's easy to say mass deportation. From a political point of view, difficult to achieve, and the economic consequences would be devastating," said Foster.
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Texas Governor Greg Abbott was asked in Tyler on Wednesday to explain how a mass deportation plan would work.
"If you are a danger to people in Tyler or Dallas, or wherever you may be in our country, you should be off the streets and behind bars or sent to the country where you came," said Gov. Abbott. "His priority list, you begin with the criminals. He said after he gets done with that he will look elsewhere."
Expediting the deportation of criminals is not new.
It's something the Biden Administration is already doing.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, the Biden Administration processed 316,000 expedited removals from March 2023 to March 2024.
"That's actually what President Obama and President Biden did. They both said we cannot deport everyone, and we're going to prioritize and put our emphasis on deporting certain classes of individuals, including those with prior serious criminal convictions," said Foster.
The Trump deportation plan on his campaign website says he will reinstate the Remain in Mexico policy, invoke the Alien Enemies Act to remove all known and suspected criminals, bring back the travel ban to limit incoming migrants and refugees and take steps to remove those who have violated our laws.
SIERRA VISTA, ARIZONA - AUGUST 22: U.S. Republican Presidential Candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks at the U.S.-Mexico border on August 22, 2024 south of Sierra Vista, Arizona. Trump will hold a rally in Glendale, Arizona tomorrow. (Ph
Foster told FOX 4 anything beyond removing criminals would require a heavy lift in federal resources.
"My guess is he would focus his mass deportation on those that had entered relatively recently and try to use a section of the law that would allow for expedited removal and bypass the need to go before an immigration judge," said Foster.
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Gov. Abbott said change won't happen overnight.
"We have to be a stopgap effort as it takes him time to get that in place," said Abbott.
The governor said if he feels the border situation is improving, he would consider reducing resources for Operation Lone Star and move those funds to other state priorities.