Former US President Donald Trump has touched a fragile nerve among Americans. At election rallies, he kept talking about mass deportations. As promised, if he returns to power, work on this will start from day one. Not only Trump, but his party has also made the same statement. But how is this plan possible? Which groups or illegal refugees from which countries could be prime targets?
Public wants stricter treatment of immigrants
The U.S. presidential election is the biggest issue today. The situation and direction of most countries in the world will be determined by its outcome. If Trump comes back, he can expel infiltrators from the U.S. border. They repeated this again and again, which also attracted local Americans. According to a Gallup poll conducted in July, 55% of Americans said they wanted to tighten immigration. This is the first time in two decades that there has been public dissatisfaction with outsider settlement. Now it could become a trump card for Trump’s party.
Stephen Miller, the former chief adviser to the president, said the incoming administration will launch the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history that will also involve the use of military force. Vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance also said that the people who get out of the first layer will be criminals. Overall, the entire party, including Trump, is saying the same thing. But how difficult or possible is this actually?
What is the data called?
Trump deported about 1.5 million people during his first term. Although this is only half of his goal commitment. Recall that Republicans at the time talked about deporting 3 million illegal immigrants from the country. In 2019, on the eve of the election, there was also a major operation to arrest illegal personnel, but it did not have much effect. This is a clear indication that no matter how much is promised on immigration, it is very difficult to implement it.
How much money was spent on how many people?
Not only will it cost huge sums of money to evict hundreds of thousands of people, but the logistics will also need to be worked out. As in 2016, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (IEC) estimates that the cost of arresting, detaining, and deporting illegal immigrants is approximately $11 million. Based on this calculation, if millions of illegal immigrants are sent out, it will cost $10.9 billion for just 1 million people. It is estimated that there are currently 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States, and the cost of deporting them could exceed $100 billion. While giving the data, the think tank American Action Forum also admitted that despite huge expenditures, it will still take 20 years.
Logistics issues are different
The United States does not have enough detention centers to hold hundreds of thousands of illegal refugees. There is a separate cost to build and maintain them, and they also take time.
A case lasts a thousand days
In addition to this, court action is taken in every case before deportation. Both sides heard it. To do this, judges, lawyers and meeting other legal requirements can weaken the process itself. Each immigration court case lasts approximately 1,000 days. The backlog itself has exceeded 3.5 million cases during the Biden administration. This means there are still many cases pending. They will remain here until the case is decided, at the U.S. government’s expense.
Many countries do not accept deportees
People are also fleeing many countries that do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States, such as Cuba, Venezuela and Russia. In this case, those countries may refuse to accept their own people. Then the United States will have no choice but to keep them. During the Trump administration, efforts were made to exert pressure, but countries refused to accept the fugitives.
The danger of family breakdown
Deportations not only impact the U.S. economy but also families. According to the Pew Research Center, approximately 4.4 million Americans under the age of 18 have at least one parent who is an illegal immigrant. If any member of the family is separated, the impact never ends.
A similar case was discussed in 2019. Mississippi Immigration and Customs Enforcement subsequently arrested about seven hundred people whose children came home from school to find one of their parents missing. In addition to this, illegal immigrants are also part of the workforce. The Pew Research Center’s own research shows that currently 5% of the country’s workforce is made up of illegal immigrants. In this case, deportation may make the situation worse.
In fact, people from all over the world are coming to this country. But during the Biden administration, in addition to Asian countries, many people from the Middle East, Latin America and Africa have also taken refuge in the United States. However, most illegal immigrants come from Mexico. Next came people from El Salvador and the Middle East. However, there is no data on the total illegal immigrant population and their places of origin.
