Trump Reelection Plan: Deport Up To 20 Million In First Days In Office
Donald Trump plans to "launch the largest deportation operation in American history" in his first days back in office if he's reelected.
In an interview with Time magazine held last month and published Tuesday, the former president and current GOP 2024 presidential candidate -- who is currently on trial for criminal hush money charges and faces three more criminal indictments -- opened up about his agenda for a second term.
Trump said that among his plans was to immediately begin efforts to deport the up to 20 million undocumented immigrants he believes will have entered the U.S. by January 2025.
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"Because we have no choice. I don't believe this is sustainable for a country, what's happening to us, with probably 15 million and maybe as many as 20 million by the time Biden's out," Trump told the magazine.
Time noted that the exact number of undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S. is unknown.
The U.S. Census Bureau's official estimate is 11 million, but NumbersUSA's director of research, Eric Ruark, told the New York Post that the Trump campaign's 20 million claim is "not an unreasonable estimate."
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When asked how exactly he would carry out the deportation operations, Trump told Time he would use law enforcement, the National Guard and the military.
While he didn't refer to it by name, Trump referenced the 1954 deportation initiative "Operation Wetback" under the administration of former President Dwight Eisenhower while discussing his proposal.
During the aggressive sweep, U.S. Border Patrol agents and local law enforcement nabbed more than 1 million Mexican nationals and shipped them out of the country.
But historians suggested that the number of actual deportations was much lower than was reported by border officials at the time, according to CNN.
Addressing the ex-president's deportation plans, a former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under Trump told the Post that a lot of resources would be needed to make that proposal happen.
Tom Homan noted that ICE would need more officers, detention beds and transportation contracts.
During his Time interview, Trump also addressed his previous comment that he'll be a "dictator" on his first day back in the White House if he is reelected.
He clarified that he said it "sarcastically as a joke" to Sean Hannity late last year.
"That was said sarcastically. That was meant as a joke. Everybody knows that," Trump claimed.
Trump had made the "joke" during a televised town hall event in Iowa hosted by Hannity in December 2023.
At the time, the Fox News host urged Trump to deny that he would abuse power to seek revenge on political opponents if he becomes president again.
"Except for day one," Trump replied, adding that he would close the southern border with Mexico and expand oil drilling on his first day back in office.
Trump then reenacted the exchange.
"I love this guy," he said of Hannity. "He says, 'You're not going to be a dictator, are you?' I said: 'No, no, no, other than day one. We're closing the border and we're drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I'm not a dictator.'"
