President-elect Donald Trump confirmed on Monday he is planning on declaring a national emergency when he takes office in January, something that will enable him to use the U.S. military to help carry out his mass deportation plans.
Trump gave the confirmation on his social media platform, Truth Social, echoing a comment made by Tom Fitton, president of conservative group Judicial Watch. Fitton had posted earlier this month that Trump was "prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program." Trump reposted the message with the caption "TRUE!!"
Mass deportations were at the center of Trump's presidential campaign, and he vowed repeatedly to remove the some 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country. He has also appointed several immigration hardliners to his cabinet and other top positions, including former ICE director Tom Homan as his "border czar" and Stephen Miller, the architect of some of Trump's toughest policies in his first term as deputy chief of staff for policy.
Further reports have detailed plans for large expansions of immigrant detention facilities, with the shares of The Geo Group and CoreCivic, two of the largest publicly-traded companies in the private prison industry, soaring as a result of investor expectations of increased demand for detention services.
The aim is to double the current 41,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)detention beds, with plans for temporary and permanent facilities across the U.S. to house detained immigrants prior to deportation, NBC News reported. This expansion would include reinstating family detention policies that were ended in 2021 under the Biden administration.
In that context, immigrant and civil groups are preparing for what promises to be a challenging period, drafting legal briefs, coordinating messaging, urging immigrants to get legal aid and stockpiling cash to lawyer up.
On Thursday a coalition of immigrant, civil and human rights groups joined the fight by calling on President Joe Biden to adopt measures that would protect vulnerable immigrant populations from the sweeping immigration enforcement Trump has pledged, as The Hill reports. These measures would include providing temporary protections and addressing procedural bottlenecks that put immigrants at risk.
South of the border, human smugglers and aspiring migrants alike are spreading a common message: hurry up and enter the U.S. before Inauguration Day.
There is no solid evidence yet that a migrant surgeis underway, but nevertheless, smugglers and lawmakers are preparing for that possibility. "Coyotes" or "polleros," as these smugglers are known, are reportedly using WhatsApp and social-media groups to tell immigrants that the time to reach the U.S. is now or never, according to the Wall Street Journal.
For instance, in southern Mexico near the Guatemala border, some 4,000 migrants formed three caravans last week and set out for the U.S., volunteers and Mexican officials said. But many of them dispersed after being quickly "hooked," or lured, by human smugglers, said Luis Villagran, a Mexican migrant advocate who organizes caravans in the city of Tapachula. Caravans offer safety in numbers of migrants, but are easy targets for authorities, while smugglers offer faster routes to the U.S.
"There were four WhatsApp groups in which hundreds of migrants coordinated their departure on U.S. election day. As soon as Trump's victory became clear, messages spreading fear began to appear," he said.
A surge in immigration could take weeks to emerge. Recent storms have closed the muddy jungle paths and rivers in the Darien Gap, foreign observers tell WSJ. At the same time, authorities in border cities such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez aren't reporting significant increases in migrant arrivals.
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