Donald Trump will use the US Military to assist in deporting illegal immigrants.

 

Soldiers on the US border. BBC/Reuters.

Donald Trump said it was "true" that he would use the US Military to assist in deporting illegal immigrants on his Truth Social account. BBC.  Trump has promised to put into place the largest deportation effort in US history but it was unclear how he would do so, given the major logistical challenges and the relatively small size of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). ICE only has 20,000 members and would have difficulty deporting illegal aliens at the rate that would be needed. Trump would declare a national emergency to allow US troops to be used on US soil. Under his first administration, Trump deported 1.5 million illegals while Biden will probably match that by the end of his term, but millions have arrived during his term. 

My Comment:

This is both expected and welcome. There are a huge number of illegal aliens that have to be deported and it's too big of a job for ICE alone. They will absolutely need help from the US military if they want to actually get rid of them. 

So what would the military do? I doubt they would be conducting raids or rounding up illegals. Instead, they would likely be using the military to do logistical work in transporting illegals and helping with paperwork and things like that. They would also likely be deployed to the border to prevent any new immigrants from coming in. 

Keep in mind that a lot of these illegals are going to self deport. Indeed, I have already heard of that happening. They have no reason to stay if they believe they are going to be kicked out anyways and if they do leave they at least have a chance to come back. But that gets a lot harder if they are deported. 

They are also going to focus on the worst of the worst first as well. Folks with a felony conviction or links to foreign gangs and cartels are going to be the first targeted for deportation. This will be very popular and there isn't going to be any sympathy for these folks. 

Indeed, I do expect this to go fairly smoothly. Trump pretty obviously won a mandate on illegal immigration and I don't really expect the media to pitch a fit like they did in the first Trump term. Getting rid of the folks from the illegal immigrant gangs will be wildly popular. I do think groups like the ACLU will try and derail as much as they can, but this will be a rear guard effort. 

I also worry that Democratic governors won't play ball. There are a few, like Gavin Newsom and basically all of the governors in the Northeast, won't help ICE at all and may even work to undermine them. Doing so would be politically unpopular but they also have to please the folks that donate to their campaign that profit from illegal aliens. 

Cost is going to be an issue as well, deporting people isn't free. But for me the cost is well worth it. Deporting a huge number of illegal aliens will have positive effects on American workers. It should cause wages to rise, not to mention that housing costs should slow, and maybe even reverse. If successful it will be very good thing for America.