Donald Trump is set to name Stephen Miller, a close ally and his top immigration adviser, to be his White House deputy chief of staff for policy, CNN reported on Monday.
Miller served as a senior adviser to Trump during his first term and was a leading voice in some of the administration most hardline measures regarding immigration. He also famously wrote Trump's speech on January 6, 2021, which preluded the assault on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters. Now Miller is expected to take an expanded role, the outlet added, quoting two people familiar with the plans.
Trump has made of immigration enforcement a centerpiece of his campaign, vowing to conduct the "largest deportation operation in U.S. history" during his term and starting on day one. Miller has said that a second Trump administration would seek a tenfold increase in deportations, reaching over one million a year.
A recent deep-dive by the Washington Post sheds light on what such an operation could look like. Spearheaded by Miller, the campaign envisioned an effort modeled after the Eisenhower-era program, known as Operation Wetback and infamous for its use of military tactics to round up and remove Mexican migrant workers.
The plan contemplates an unprecedented deployment of federal, state, and military resources to apprehend and deport undocumented immigrants. Trump is also seeking to have local police contribute to the efforts. Aware that some may be against it, the government would evaluate cutting off access to federal Justice Department grants. The Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program is the primary source of federal funding for state and local law enforcement, distributing over $250 million annually.
During Trump's presidency, several states, including New York, sued the administration after it withheld Byrne JAG grants from sanctuary cities. Although an appeals court sided with the Trump administration, the case reached the Supreme Court just as Joe Biden took office and reinstated the grant program for these jurisdictions.
Experts, government officials, and former administration insiders have raised broader legal, logistical, and ethical challenges to Trump's deportation plan. The proposal, which they see as alarming and impractical, has also raised questions about the feasibility of executing such an operation and the potential impact on communities and law enforcement.
One of the key issues is the bottleneck in detention space, prompting suggestions from Trump allies, including Miller, to build mass deportation camps. Critics argue that such facilities could lead to violations of human rights and pose risks to both law enforcement and the communities involved.
The Biden administration currently uses approximately 38,000 beds at immigration jails and facilities. Suggestions of using military aircraft and National Guard troops for large-scale deportations face criticism for being resource-intensive and impractical.
On a large scale, it's estimated that Trump's campaign promise could affect up to 11 million people living in the country without legal status. No administration has attempted a deportation operation of this size. If executed, the scale of Trump's plan would far exceed past administrations, including his own, which deported 1.5 million people over four years.
Nearly 5 million American families may face severe disruption under a proposed 2024 mass deportation program, according to a recent report from the Center for Migration Studies (CMS). The report warns that such a large-scale deportation effort could break up families, causing widespread social and economic consequences. The analysis shows that 5.8 million U.S. households include at least one undocumented resident. Of these households, 4.7 million are "mixed-status", where U.S. citizens or legal residents live alongside undocumented individuals.
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