Will There Be Mass Deportations During the Trump Administration?
There are hundreds of thousands of deportations from the US every year. But whether there will be “mass” deportations in the US under President Trump remains to be seen. If you are not a citizen or have permanent residency, your chances of deportation vary on your situation. Though there are many legal and practical hurdles to significantly boosting deportations, immigration law firm Castillo & Associates can help you prepare if you find yourself in trouble.
If you’re an immigrant and believe you may be targeted for deportation, call a Castillo & Associates Southern California immigration lawyer at 800-497-9774 to learn more about the process and what you can do to prevent it or delay it from happening by talking to immigration attorney Domingo Castillo.
Promises, Promises
Donald Trump may be one of the most anti-immigration Presidential candidates in recent history, but during his first term in office, he deported fewer people than were removed from the country during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. During the campaign, he spoke of deporting millions of people from the US. There may be 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US, plus there are millions of people in the country legally he wants to deport.
Trump has mined a deep vein of American anti-immigrant sentiment that’s persisted during the country’s history, despite the fact we’re a nation of immigrants and descendants of immigrants. After the use of H-1B visas recently became controversial, Trump’s support of them surprised many. That may or may not be a sign Trump’s harsh anti-immigration rhetoric during the campaign won’t result in a “scorched earth” immigration policy, given the nation’s economic reliance on immigrant labor.
Practical Obstacles Lie Ahead of Mass Deportation Plans
The federal government lacks the capacity to deport millions more people, so that will need to be developed, which will take time and resources. Last year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employed fewer than 8,000 Enforcement and Removal Operations employees. These people handle immigration in the US away from our borders (the border patrol employs about 20,000 people).
This is not a workforce capable of mass deportations. The federal government also lacks the physical infrastructure, including transportation assets and detention centers, to handle a flood of people suddenly forced out of the country.
The immigration court system also can’t handle millions of new cases. It already has years-long backlogs. One reason is many countries won’t accept immigrants back. It’s estimated that in 2020, only 18% of those who received deportation orders were deported.
Poor countries where many immigrants come from lack the resources to re-integrate tens or hundreds of thousands of people back into their communities, especially those nations dealing with civil wars, widespread lawlessness, poverty, and political instability. Trump has threatened to cut financial aid to nations that don’t take back immigrants, but the cost of accepting them may be greater than the money that they would miss.
Possible Work Arounds to Enable Mass Deportations
The Trump administration could hire more federal employees to increase their capacity, including immigration agents and judges. They could also attempt to conscript state and local law enforcement departments to help by entering into agreements with them. That might work in some states, but not all, including California, which won’t cooperate with mass deportation efforts.
Trump has claimed he’ll use military resources to execute mass deportation. The federal Posse Comitatus Act prohibits using the military to enforce domestic policies. Trump has stated he’ll use the Alien Enemies Act, which permits the federal government to detain and deport non-citizens when the country’s engaged in a war, or if a president proclaims there’s an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” by another country. President Franklin Roosevelt used that law during WWII to justify detaining those of Japanese descent in internment camps. It’s never been used while the US was not actively at war.
Trump’s Department of Justice may use the US Supreme Court’s 1899 decision in Chae Chan Ping, which covers the Chinese Exclusion Act. The court established the federal government controls immigration, which could be an act of “foreign aggression and encroachment.” The federal government would probably argue that illegal immigrants are a foreign invasion harming the country to justify mass arrests and deportations that otherwise would be limited by immigrants’ due process rights.
More deportation cases could arise under the expedited removal system. This empowers immigration officials to deport people practically without any due process. Usually, expedited removals cover those seeking admission at a US port of entry, or they’re caught within two weeks crossing the border and 100 miles of it.
This hasn’t been applied to people detained beyond 100 miles of the border. However, the Immigration and Nationality Act allows the executive branch to increase the expedited removal authority to anyone unable to prove their legal physical presence in the US for the prior two years.
Contact Immigration Law Castillo & Associates for the Help You Need
Whatever your immigration status, it’s best to be prepared for the worst-case scenario because we don’t know how likely it may be. Many things stand in the way of mass deportation, but they may be overcome. Don’t take chances. Speak with a Castillo & Associates immigration lawyer.
Immigration law is complicated, but our Inland Empire immigration attorneys at Castillo & Associates can speak with you about your status and how to protect yourself and your family. We have four Southern California offices, and our Southern California immigration lawyers have nearly 25 years of experience helping clients like you. To schedule a free consultation, call immigration law Castillo & Associates law firm at 800-497-9774.
Attorney Domingo Castillo handles workers’ compensation, personal injury, family law & immigration throughout Southern California from our 5 offices: Indio, Pomona, Riverside, San Diego & Cathedral City. We help clients file injury claims, obtain residency & citizenship, and we assist families through divorce, child custody and all family law matters.
