Donald Trump's allies are developing proposals to implement an unprecedented immigration crackdown, including deporting asylum seekers to other countries. Former Trump administration officials, Trump supporters, and conservative immigration experts are writing executive orders, policy memos, and other documents to transform campaign rhetoric into policy.
The goal is to be ready on the first day of a Trump presidency to stem the flow of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, unwind President Biden's immigration agenda, and lay the groundwork for what the former president has said would be the largest mass deportation in U.S. history.
Some issues being discussed include expediting migrants' asylum hearings, rescinding deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants created by the Biden administration, and forcing countries across the globe to accept back more of their deported citizens. Outside advisers have started identifying countries in South America, including Panama, and Africa that could become partners for new asylum deals. In 2020, the Trump administration struck a deal with Guatemala on a short-lived program that sent back roughly 1,000 migrants from neighboring El Salvador and Honduras to seek asylum there. Advisers want to revive the idea, inspired by an accord between the U.K. and Rwanda in 2022 that would allow the U.K. to send migrants seeking asylum to the East African country instead.
The extent of the planning shows Trump's outside advisers are getting a head start on clearing the hurdles they would face in enacting the deportation campaign, which has become Trump's signature 2024 campaign promise on immigration.
The discussions surrounding Trump's second-term immigration agenda are taking place within conservative groups, including the America First Policy Institute and the Heritage Foundation. These groups are run by former Trump administration officials and oversee Project 2025, an effort by right-leaning organizations to plan for the next Republican administration. Trump campaign officials claim that outside groups do not speak for the former president, and they expect at least some of their draft plans to be put in place if Trump wins the election.
Trump has said he would act like a dictator on his first day back at the White House, when he would harness the power of his office to "close the border" and expand oil drilling. People close to Trump say the effort is modeled in part on Biden's first day in office in 2021, when he signed prewritten orders to halt construction of Trump's border wall, lift a travel ban on citizens of several Muslim-majority countries, and end a border policy known as Remain in Mexico. Trump probably would reverse those measures, as well as several other Biden immigration initiatives, on his first day.
Pulling off an extensive deportation operation would require coordination at every level of government, as well as the military. Advisers are eyeing military bases for expanded detention capacity and making plans to deputize red-state governors to deploy National Guard troops to add to the ranks of immigration officers making arrests. The operation likely would need billions of dollars in new funding, either from Congress or transferred from the Pentagon.
Morgan said any mass deportation operation would be contingent in part on immigrants turning themselves in to the authorities voluntarily. If people see a whole-of-government, expanded commitment to start arresting and deporting people, they hope people would come and work with the federal government to have themselves repatriated.
The goal is to be ready on the first day of a Trump presidency to stem the flow of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, unwind President Biden's immigration agenda, and lay the groundwork for what the former president has said would be the largest mass deportation in U.S. history.
Some issues being discussed include expediting migrants' asylum hearings, rescinding deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants created by the Biden administration, and forcing countries across the globe to accept back more of their deported citizens. Outside advisers have started identifying countries in South America, including Panama, and Africa that could become partners for new asylum deals. In 2020, the Trump administration struck a deal with Guatemala on a short-lived program that sent back roughly 1,000 migrants from neighboring El Salvador and Honduras to seek asylum there. Advisers want to revive the idea, inspired by an accord between the U.K. and Rwanda in 2022 that would allow the U.K. to send migrants seeking asylum to the East African country instead.
The extent of the planning shows Trump's outside advisers are getting a head start on clearing the hurdles they would face in enacting the deportation campaign, which has become Trump's signature 2024 campaign promise on immigration.
The discussions surrounding Trump's second-term immigration agenda are taking place within conservative groups, including the America First Policy Institute and the Heritage Foundation. These groups are run by former Trump administration officials and oversee Project 2025, an effort by right-leaning organizations to plan for the next Republican administration. Trump campaign officials claim that outside groups do not speak for the former president, and they expect at least some of their draft plans to be put in place if Trump wins the election.
Trump has said he would act like a dictator on his first day back at the White House, when he would harness the power of his office to "close the border" and expand oil drilling. People close to Trump say the effort is modeled in part on Biden's first day in office in 2021, when he signed prewritten orders to halt construction of Trump's border wall, lift a travel ban on citizens of several Muslim-majority countries, and end a border policy known as Remain in Mexico. Trump probably would reverse those measures, as well as several other Biden immigration initiatives, on his first day.
Pulling off an extensive deportation operation would require coordination at every level of government, as well as the military. Advisers are eyeing military bases for expanded detention capacity and making plans to deputize red-state governors to deploy National Guard troops to add to the ranks of immigration officers making arrests. The operation likely would need billions of dollars in new funding, either from Congress or transferred from the Pentagon.
Morgan said any mass deportation operation would be contingent in part on immigrants turning themselves in to the authorities voluntarily. If people see a whole-of-government, expanded commitment to start arresting and deporting people, they hope people would come and work with the federal government to have themselves repatriated.
