Former US President, Donald Trump is planning to carry out widespread expansion of his first administration’s hardline immigration policies if he is elected to a second term in 2024, according to a new report by The New York Times and CNN
The plans include rounding up undocumented immigrants already in the US and placing them in detention camps to await deportation.
According to the report, the plans would necessitate building large camps to house migrants waiting for deportation and tapping federal and local law enforcement to assist with large-scale arrests of undocumented immigrants across the country.
If the US Congress refuse to fund the operation, Trump will use a tactic used in his first term to secure more funding for a border wall, he will redirect funds from the Pentagon.
Trump at a rally in Florida this week promised to conduct “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history” and argued criminals were coming through the US-Mexico border and warned of “young, strong people that had bad intentions.”
Then on Saturday, November 11, Trump vowed to sign an executive order, on Day 1 of a potential second term, to cease funding the provision of shelter and transportation for undocumented immigrants, saying at a rally in New Hampshire that he would redirect a portion of the savings toward “shelter and treatment for our own homeless veterans.”
He also claimed that President Joe Biden has spent more than $1 million to put undocumented immigrants in “some of the most luxurious hotels in the country.
During his recent campaign events, Trump has touted his travel ban on predominantly Muslim countries as “strong” and “powerful.”
Last week in Florida, Trump pledged to “terminate all work permits for illegal aliens and demand that Congress send me a bill outlawing all welfare payments to illegal migrants of any kind.”
The former president also warned of caravans coming from Mexico to the US border, and vowed to prosecute groups and charities that he claimed facilitated large-scale unlawful immigration
Stephen Miller, a former senior Trump administration official who led Trump’s immigration policy, told The Times, “Any activists who doubt President Trump’s resolve in the slightest are making a drastic error: Trump will unleash the vast arsenal of federal powers to implement the most spectacular migration crackdown.”
The Biden campaign issued a scathing statement in response to The Times’ reporting on Saturday, characterizing Trump’s plans as “the horrifying reality that awaits the American people if Donald Trump is allowed anywhere near the Oval Office again.”
“These extreme, racist, cruel policies dreamed up by him and his henchman Stephen Miller are meant to stoke fear and divide us, betting a scared and divided nation is how he wins this election,” said Ammar Moussa, a spokesman for the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign.