Trump Advisers Draw Up Plans for Mass Deportations

Advisers to President-elect Donald Trump are drawing up plans on how to cover the costs of a mass deportation as well as how to implement it, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Behind the scenes, Trump's advisers had been working since the campaign on what a mass deportation would look like. Since Trump's victory on Tuesday, those efforts have seen an upswing.

For his first day in office, Trump's advisers are seeking to issue a national emergency declaration over illegal immigration. They believe this could allow Trump to reallocate funds from the Pentagon to finance the completion of the border wall and aid in immigrant detention and deportation efforts, but the legality of this question is still left hanging. Trump's team believes that a national emergency declaration would also allow the use of military bases for immigrant detention and military planes to facilitate deportations.

With regard to what role Congress will play, The Journal wrote that Trump's allies have been mulling "revoking a Biden administration policy directing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement not to pursue immigrants in the country illegally who haven't committed other crimes, and making changes to the immigration court system to speed up cases."

According to close associates of Trump, part of the plan also includes a focus on migrants who are in the United States illegally and have received a final order of deportation from an immigration court or have been criminally charged while in the U.S. illegally. Those fitting that bill, per the Journal, account for about 1.3 million illegal migrants. However, the publication did note that it is not known at this time how many illegal migrants are in the U.S. at this time. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that the figure is around 11 million. Trump estimates it to be 20 million.

Meanwhile, Trump's advisers are also weighing policy changes to remove protection statuses granted by the Biden administration, such as the temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians, Venezuelans, and others who entered the US under humanitarian parole — protections that cover millions, including Afghan and Ukrainian evacuees.

Additionally, Trump's advisers are seeking to reinstate the "Remain in Mexico" policy, which requires migrants to wait in Mexico while their claims are processed. They are also identifying possible third countries for migrants to be sent to as an alternative.

The American Immigration Council estimates that such an effort could reach nearly $88 billion annually, with total expenses climbing as high as $968 billion over the next decade.

• Mass. Gov. Healey: 'Absolutely Not' to Deportation Requests
• Trump: No Price Tag on Mass Deportation Plan