As President-elect Donald Trump announces his picks for various cabinet positions, there is a lot of focus on scandalous questions surrounding some of the more surprising choices.
But receiving far less attention at the moment is some of the very first moves taken by Trump to stack his administration with some of those responsible for executing what he vowed to be a priority: a massive immigration crackdown, including mass deportations. Such a policy change could affect the lives of some 11 million people living in the U.S.
The Trump administration is also expected to end parole for people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, as well as undo a policy that significantly constrained deportations for people who are not considered threats to public safety or national security.
To this end, the president-elect has tapped three figures who will be central to the effort. At the top would be South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Stephen Miller, someone widely seen as the architect of Trump’s first-term immigration agenda, is set to play an expansive role inside the White House. And Trump has asked Thomas Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to return in a role often called the border czar.
Denise Gilman, a clinical professor of law at UT Austin, said it is likely the Trump administration will try and make a political splash with big deportation numbers early in his second term.
“Prior administrations, including the Biden administration, have had high levels of deportations as well. And so I think what the Trump administration will do is try to expand on that further,” Gilman said. “Will it be possible for the Trump administration to deport every undocumented person in the United States? I really doubt it. But there are ways that the Trump administration can show large numbers, including by taking even harsher measures than those already in place under the Biden administration at the border.”
Gilman said she expects to see legal challenges to policies Trump plans to enact that crack down on immigration.
“There are still measures in law that Congress has adopted that require, for example, the ability to access an asylum process in the United States. There are limits on the ability to deport somebody without at least a hearing in immigration court,” she said. “And unless and until Congress changes those laws, there will be ways to challenge executive orders that try to go further than what is allowed under current law. Those would be subject to challenge.”
Indeed, immigration rights organizations have already started preparing for litigation based on Trump’s campaign promises.
“I expect that at least some of that litigation will be successful as it was the last time in halting these measures,” Gilman said. “The problem is that the announcement that the Trump administration is making the nomination of these particular officials is intended to and is succeeding in creating a lot of fear in the community. And so it is important for people to know that right now nothing has changed and we still don’t know exactly what’s going to happen.”
There is also the question of logistics when it comes to mass deportation. Trump has vowed to get the military involved in the effort, but Gilman said there are still questions as to how effective the administration will be in following through on these policy promises.
“There simply aren’t the law enforcement resources available to round up and deport the very large undocumented population that we have in the United States, even if we also deputize sheriffs and local governments,” she said. “I think what is likely to happen is that ICE and the administration will take away all of the priority setting that previously happened.
“So when anybody does come into contact with immigration enforcement, even if it’s just over running a stoplight, then they will very seriously face deportation. … I also think the Trump administration will use the border numbers where it’s easier to quickly expel people to indicate that they are deporting very large numbers of migrants.”
In addition to the concerns raised by Denise Gilman, it is important to consider the impact of these potential policy changes on families and communities across the country. Mass deportations can have far-reaching consequences, not just for those directly affected but for the fabric of society as a whole. Families may be torn apart, children left without parents, and communities destabilized. It is crucial for policymakers to take into account the human cost of these decisions and work towards comprehensive immigration reform that is both effective and humane.
