Anika Begay
A person holds a sign that reads “Immediate Mass Deportation” on the third day of the Republican National Convention in July.
Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images
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Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images
A person holds a sign that reads “Immediate Mass Deportation” on the third day of the Republican National Convention in July.
Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images
Donald Trump won the White House for the first time in part thanks to his promise to aggressively crack down on immigration.
“Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete ban on Muslims entering the United States until our country’s officials figure out what the hell is going on,” he said at the time.
A controversial Muslim travel ban subsequently went into effect, and in its second year in office, the Trump administration separated children from their parents at the border as part of the administration’s “zero tolerance policy.”
“Don’t break the law. I mean, that’s why they’re separated, because they’re breaking the law,” then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said in May 2018.
If Trump returns to the White House, he promises to do even more on immigration.
“As soon as I take the oath of office, we will begin the largest deportation operation in the history of our country,” he declared last month at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, repeating a promise that has become a staple of his rallies.
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Trump Takes Commitment to the Road
At this summer’s Republican National Convention, hundreds of attendees waved signs demanding “Mass Deportation Now!”
And across the country, Trump supporters cheer when he repeats this promise.
He was greeted with applause at a rally in Nevada when he declared: “When I am re-elected, we will begin – and we have no choice – the largest deportation operation in American history.”
And he received more applause at a rally in Montana last week, when he declared: “We will seal the border, stop the invasion, and send the illegal immigrants home, where they belong.”
Now, Trump’s former immigration advisers are outlining ambitious plans for a second term. Among them is Tom Homan, the former head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who said this at the National Conservatism Conference last month:
“They haven’t seen shit yet. Wait until 2025… Trump comes back in January, I’ll be right behind him when he comes back. And I’ll be leading the biggest deportation operation this country has ever seen.”
Two NPR reporters have been following this story closely: Joel Rose, who covered immigration during Trump’s presidency, and Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, an immigration correspondent.
They examined internal emails and documents dating back to Trump’s tenure, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, that shed light on how realistic Trump’s plan to radically expand the U.S. deportation system is.
What the documents show
The documents show how immigration authorities have been working since the early days of the Trump administration to increase their detention capacity in response to requests from the White House.
But they also reveal how bureaucratic hurdles have slowed the process, limiting the administration’s ability to ramp up immigration enforcement to match Trump’s tough rhetoric and stated goals.
In one example, in January 2017, Trump signed several executive orders on immigration and the next day the ICE official in charge of immigration detention tried to begin expanding detention facilities. Rose said All in all:
“ICE has added about 15,000 detention beds under President Trump, which is about a 35% jump. But it took years. It wasn’t as fast or as easy as his advisers might have wanted. And I think that’s a reason to be skeptical of Trump’s promises this time.”
And Martínez-Beltrán says Trump’s rhetoric, while broad, has been vague:
“He has vowed to deport between 15 and 20 million undocumented migrants. But that number is much higher than the Department of Homeland Security has reported. The agency estimates there are about 11 million undocumented migrants.”
Listen to the whole thing Consider this episode to hear Rose and Martínez-Beltrán break down in detail what the documents show, how the story is unfolding, and what former ICE officials have to say.
This episode was produced by Marc Rivers. It was edited by Courtney Dorning, Alfredo Carbajal, and Eric Westervelt. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
