Presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has been promising MAGA voters "the largest domestic deportation operation in history," saying that he will deport 10-12 million people who are in the United States illegally.
Journalist Eleanor Clift lays out an abundance of arguments against that "cruel" proposal in a blistering op-ed published on June 9, attacking it as a recipe for both human rights violations and economic chaos.
"Aides are reportedly scouting land for detention camps, and Donald Trump and his allies have not been shy about calling for the invocation of the Insurrection Act of 1807 to allow the military and federalized National Guard troops to assist in what they envision as a mass removal of undocumented immigrants," Clift explains. "If such a plan were carried out, it would cause enormous disruption to communities throughout the country and increase the weight of the federal government in people's lives in a way that runs counter to a political party that supposedly prides itself on small government."
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Lanae Erickson of the centrist think tank the Third Way has attacked Trump's deportation plan as "super cruel and also completely impractical."
Erickson told the Daily Beast, "It's not like we have a list where 11 or 12 million people live. Would they check people at schools and in workplaces? Would they go door-to-door and ask people for their papers?….This is deeply invasive work…. These are people deeply embedded in the community, and you would have to build massive detention centers."
Erickson added, "You can't just fly a bunch of people to another country and drop them off. You need an agreement with that government that they will repatriate them, and these are often countries we don't have good relationships with."
Clift warns that if millions of workers are rounded up for deportation — including many "farm workers and hospitality industry workers" — the U.S. economy is bound to suffer as a result.
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"Trump seems to think he can mobilize law enforcement across the country to join his crusade against the undocumented," Clift argues. "Perhaps he would find willing partners in some communities, but in many places, local law enforcement officers are reluctant to enforce immigration laws that are in place, and they're right when they say it's not part of their job."
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Eleanor Clift's full Daily Beast op-ed is available at this link (subscription required)
