The incoming Trump administration’s plans to implement strict border measures, strike down Biden-era policies and kick off the detention and deportation of migrants at large scale are underway and starting to come into focus, according to four sources familiar with the plans. President-elect Donald Trump made immigration a central element of his 2024 presidential campaign – but unlike his first run, which was spent largely focused on building a border wall, he’s turned his attention to interior enforcement and the removal of undocumented immigrants already in the United States.
Mass Detention and Returning Migrants
People close to the president and his aides are laying the groundwork for expanding detention facilities, including reviewing metropolitan areas where capabilities exist. But they are also preparing executive actions that are a call back to his first term in office and could be rolled out as soon as Trump takes office, sources say.
The executive actions and reviews underway include the return of the program informally known as “remain in Mexico,” which requires migrants to stay in Mexico during their immigration proceedings in the US.
Another executive order that is being considered would make detention mandatory and call for an end to releasing migrants, which often happens across administrations because of limited federal resources. That would pave the way for detaining and eventually, deporting people at a large scale. Plans also include bringing back family detention, which has been widely criticized by immigrant advocates and a practice that President Joe Biden ended.
The Key to Fulfilling the Plan is Money
Trump’s immigration plan to deport millions of undocumented immigrants would require substantial financial resources, infrastructure, and congressional support to be effectively implemented.
According to Wall Street Journal, to deport 13 million undocumented immigrants could cost up to $315 billion, requiring a massive increase in current removal efforts. This large sum of money includes the costs of at large arrests, the detention and the legal processing and removal of these individuals.
As the scheme focuses on arresting criminals with identifying them in jails of conducting home visits. These efforts require the necessity with over 30,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and local law enforcement collaboration. Detaining immigrants requiring not just significant funding but large infrastructure upgrade, while family detention raises expenses due to necessary welfare standards and professional care.
Deportation process would also need significant boost of human resources including thousands of new judges and involve costly logistics for transporting individuals to their home countries. Deporting 13 million immigrants – which makes up 4 percent of US population – could make up over 6 000 removal flights annually with costs of $17,000 per hour.
Whatever it Costs
Trump says there is “no price tag” of deportation government could reduce immigration detention costs by repurposing facilities, utilizing third countries for processing, and expediting the legal procedures for immigrants with final removal orders.
During his first term, Trump deported more than 1.5 million people, according to Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. But that’s about half the 2.9 million deportations undertaken during Barack Obama’s first term and fewer than the 1.9 million deportations during Obama’s second term.
