WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump, if re-elected in 2024, would expand immigration crackdowns taken during his first term to include roundups of undocumented immigrants allegedly detained in large camps awaiting eviction, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
This information is based on interviews with several advisers, including Stephen Miller, who oversaw immigration policies during Donald Trump’s first term.
The New York Times describes the former president’s plans as “an assault on immigration on a scale unprecedented in modern U.S. history” and says they aim to deport millions of people each year , including those that have been established in the country for decades.
Main candidate for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump would resurrect his ban on entry into American territory for people from certain Muslim-majority countries, according to the newspaper.
He would return to other harsh policies, including rejecting asylum applications in the COVID-19 era, although this time the refusals would be based on claims that migrants carry other diseases infectious, the newspaper continues.
Donald Trump is seeking to speed up expulsions by massively expanding those that would not require formal hearings, according to the newspaper.
To help Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) round up undocumented immigrants, Trump would reassign federal agents and tap local police and volunteer National Guard troops from states run by the Republicans, according to the article.
It would reduce pressure on ICE detention centers by building huge camps to house detainees while they wait for their cases to be processed and deported.
To finance this massive operation in the event of refusal from Congress, Donald Trump would redirect Pentagon funds as he did for his border wall during his first term, according to the Times.
Donald Trump hinted at his plan at a September rally in Iowa, according to the newspaper, which quoted him as calling his plan “the largest national deportation operation in U.S. history.” the “Eisenhower model,” referring to a 1954 campaign named after an ethnic slur – Operation Wetback – to detain and deport Mexican immigrants.
(Report Jonathan Landay, French version Benjamin Mallet)
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