November 18, 2024
Donald Trump Promises To Declare National Emergency, Deploy Military For Massive Deportation Plans
The second Trump administration starts in 63 days.
President-elect Donald Trump isn’t backing down from his plan of a mass deportation of immigrants starting on day, going so far as to promise to declare a national emergency and implement military assistance.
Trump jumped on his social media platform, Truth Social, to confirm the rumors with one word: “TRUE!!!” His announcement came in response to a tweet from Tom Fitton, president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, who called the development “good news.”
Through the National Guard, the Department of Defense, has been in support of border security missions for years. However, there are still open questions about the potential legal, logistical and budgetary limitations that go along with plans to carry out mass deportations.
According to The Hill, immigration advocates are bracing for the impact of swift executive action on immigration. The Trump-Vance administration takes over in 63 days.
During the 2024 campaign, Trump promised deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, a law from the 18th century allowing the detention and removal of anyone over 14 years old coming from a country at war with the United States.
Experts believe that the deportations the President-elect is talking about are more than just a bunch of arrests. “I don’t think we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of people being arrested. They were never able to get to that capacity in the first Trump administration on, like, a single day or a single week,” one top immigration advocate said.
“But they’re going to build up that capacity, and I would assume a kind of shock and awe attempt that they will do raids. They will try to make them high profile. They’re going to try to spread fear because it appeals to their base, but also because it is part of their strategy, which is to get people to self-deport.”
But some loyalists of the indicted businessman, like Texas GOP Rep. Pete Sessions, feel the plan of the new leaders opens room for more transparency of what to potentially take place.
“I believe the president, I believe whoever is the attorney general, whoever is head of, if it’s [Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi] Noem, head of Department of Homeland Security, and [incoming border czar] Tom Homan, will come together on a succinct not just reasoning, but a process to give people notice about what would happen,” Sessions said.
“I think it’s important that you tell people what the plan is. As we recall, President Obama had a lot of deportations, and it created a wider viewpoint that we were without a plan rather than telling people. And I think the president needs to and will say more than—or Tom Homan—more than ‘mass deportations.’”
Both Trump and Homan will need to prepare for a fight as Democratic state and city leaders nationwide have vowed that they will not be going along with the deportation plans. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said “absolutely not” when asked if her state police will cooperate. Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey claimed he’s “willing to try anything” to put an end to Trump’s plans, labeling them as “contrary to our values.”
Illinois governor and former vice presidential candidate JB Pritzker promised that Trump would have to “come through me” to access his mass deportation plans.
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