Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, said a number of steps would have to be taken for a “mass deportation” strategy to be implemented on day one of a second Trump presidency.
“There are a few things it will take. One is to reinstate the accelerated forms of due process that are available within the law to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, in order to put people on a fast track for removal and expend resources to go around and arrest and remove them,” Vaughan explained on Thursday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy.
“They will prioritize the worst of the worst… as they always have done, even under Trump,” Vaughan added. “So let’s say it’s a million people, but they can also go after people who have not shown up for their immigration court hearing. So that’s basically all of them.
“But we have to remember, and we know this from past experience, that when the federal government starts actually enforcing immigration law, people get the message.”
Vaughan went on to note that ICE needs to partner with state and local authorities to successfully carry out mass deportations, saying, “ICE ice can’t do it by itself, they need partnerships with state and local authorities to be a force multiplier.”
In terms of state attorneys general assisting deportation efforts, Vaughan said they could give “guidance to state and local law enforcement agencies within the state as to what is expected of them in terms of their cooperation and assistance.”
Vaughan also said state legislatures could assist in deportation efforts by passing legislation banning sanctuary cities, “threaten criminal prosecution,” and cutting off money to entities that fail to comply with such orders.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Illegal Aliens Detained” by CBP.gov
