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Agence France-Presse

US President-elect Donald Trump confirmed that he plans to declare a national emergency on border security and use the US military to carry out a mass deportation of undocumented migrants.
Immigration was a top issue in the election campaign, and Trump has promised to deport millions and stabilise the border with Mexico after record numbers of migrants crossed illegally during President Joe Biden’s administration.
On his social media platform Truth Social, Trump amplified a recent post by a conservative activist that said the president-elect was “prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation programme”.
Alongside the repost on Monday, Trump commented: “True!”


Asked for more details of the plan, Trump transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that “President Trump will marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human traffickers in American history”.
Advocates for immigrants, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have said they are prepared to respond with legal action.
Trump sealed a remarkable comeback to the presidency in his November 5 defeat of Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris.
He has been announcing a cabinet featuring immigration hardliners, naming former Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting chief Tom Homan as his “border tsar”.
Homan appeared at the Republican National Convention in July, telling supporters: “I got a message to the millions of illegal immigrants that Joe Biden’s released in our country: you better start packing now”.
Trump also appointed Kristi Noem, who has little experience with the Department of Homeland Security, to lead the agency.

As governor of South Dakota, which is closer to Canada than Mexico, Noem deployed dozens of National Guard troops to assist the Republican-led state of Texas with border security in recent years, including one controversial deployment in 2021 funded by a Republican billionaire.
Trump’s long-time adviser Stephen Miller, who was behind much of his first term’s immigration agenda, will continue to play a role as deputy chief of policy.
Authorities estimate that some 11 million people are living in the United States illegally. Trump’s deportation plan is expected to directly affect around 20 million families.
While the US government has struggled for years to manage its southern border with Mexico, Trump has supercharged concerns by claiming an “invasion” is under way by migrants he says will rape and murder Americans.
During his campaign, Trump repeatedly railed against undocumented immigrants, employing incendiary rhetoric about foreigners who “poison the blood” of the United States and misleading his audiences about immigration statistics and policy.
Trump has not elaborated on his immigration crackdown in any detail, but during his election campaign repeatedly vowed to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to speed up deportations.

Critics say the law is outdated and point to its most recent use during World War II to hold Japanese-Americans in internment camps without due process.
Trump told Time he did not rule out building new migrant detention camps but “there wouldn’t be that much of a need for them” because migrants would be rapidly removed.
During his last presidency, Trump deported about 1.5 million immigrants, according to a Migration Policy Institute analysis of federal figures, which the Biden administration is on pace to match.
Also during his first term, Trump bypassed Congress to divert Pentagon funds to expand the border wall by declaring a national emergency. President Biden terminated the emergency order just after he took office in 2021.
Additional reporting by Tribune News Service and Reuters


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Tom Homan. File photo: Reuters

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World

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US Elections

Donald Trump has promised to conduct the largest deportation operation in American history, which could upend the lives of 11 million people


Donald Trump has promised to conduct the largest deportation operation in American history, which could upend the lives of 11 million people.
