President-elect Donald Trump plans to declare a national emergency and use the U.S. military to help carry out his plans for mass deportations, he confirmed Monday.
Trump reaffirmedhis long-time plan to enact “the largest deportation in American history” in a response to a Nov. 8 Truth Social post from Tom Fitton, president of the conservative group Judicial Watch. Fitton wrote that Trump’s administration “will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program.”
“TRUE!!!” Trump wrote in response.
The promise of mass deportations was central to Trump’s campaign and helped propel him to victory on Nov. 5. In one of his first interviews post-election, Trump told NBC News “there is no choice" but to forcibly expel millions of people living in the U.S. without documentation.
“It’s not a question of a price tag. It’s not — really, we have no choice. When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries, and now they’re going to go back to those countries because they’re not staying here. There is no price tag,” Trump said.
But Democrats and immigration experts are warning there is a price tag, and it's a big one.
Research from the American Immigration Council (AIC) has found that the costs of enacting a deportation of the scale promised by Trump would be huge. A one-time mass deportation would cost taxpayers no less than $315 billion and would devastate the American workforce, it found.
ICE Acting Director Patrick J. Lechleitner told NBC News in July that Trump’s plan would have “astronomical” economic costs and require unfeasible infrastructure to enact.
In a CNN interview on Monday, Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq war veteran and the founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said Trump’s plan to use the military for deportation is a "terrifying prospect for anybody who’s been in uniform.”
“You could send me to Iraq, but to send me across from American protesters in situations like we’ve seen across America is wrought with a tremendous burden you’re going to put on men and women in uniform,” Rieckhoff said. “I think every American should be extremely cautious about anybody who says they want to deploy American troops on U.S. soil."
Right-wing political commentator and CNN host Scott Jennings pushed back in the interview, defending Trump’s plans to deploy the military on “the illegal immigration population."
“Have you served in uniform?” Rieckhoff shot back.
“I have served as a United States citizen and have read the newspaper where we have sent National Guard,” Jennings said.
“Well, I think, in this case, I might have a bit of experience that you don’t,” Rieckhoff responded.
