Jason Cohen
ABC News’ senior White House correspondent Selina Wang said Monday that President-elect Donald Trump’s recent moves clearly indicate that he intends to deliver on his pledge to conduct mass deportations.
Trump confirmed Monday that he will declare a national emergency and deploy military assets to assist with the mass deportation effort. Wang pointed to this confirmation, along with Trump’s appointments of former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting director Tom Homan as border czar and Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff for policy, as evidence of his commitment to following through on his immigration agenda.
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“Mass deportations is a central Donald Trump campaign vow, and he’s making it very clear that he is going to make good on his promise. Donald Trump is now saying that he is prepared to use the military by declaring a national emergency to carry out mass deportations,” Wang said. “Donald Trump has made key appointments in his cabinet and in critical positions in his next administration and filling those people with immigration hardliners, including Stephen Miller and Tom Homan … Now, Tom Homan, he has given an interview about his plans, but has been light on details. He said that he would prioritize going after criminal and gang members, but he left open the possibility that they could also go after other undocumented immigrants.”
“Now there’s an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in this country and carrying out a full mass deportation would be incredibly complex, not to mention expensive. It could cost billions of dollars a year,” she added. “And many economists have also warned that this could have a devastating impact on the economy by taking out such a critical part of the labor pool and that it could also raise prices.”
Trump pledged during his campaign to continue constructing the U.S.-Mexico border wall, reinstate the Remain in Mexico program, enlist more border patrol agents and conduct the “largest deportation program in American history.”
The president-elect also selected Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), writing she “has been very strong on Border Security.” He has not yet named leaders for ICE, Customs and Border Protection, or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, three agencies within DHS that are central to immigration enforcement and processing.
Trump previously declared a national emergency during his first term to secure additional funding for wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border and extended that declaration to maintain construction efforts.
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