President-elect Trump’s promise to deport 11 million migrants in the U.S. illegally has more than a few obstacles, according to a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director.
The first is staffing and funding from Congress, according to John Sandweg, who worked under the Obama administration.
“Trump is going to need a lot more ICE agents,” he told NewsNation in an interview. “That’s going to require a lot of appropriations from Congress.”
The administration would also need a massive number of “detention beds,” something Sandweg said is far easier said than done.
The main thing, according to the former ICE official, is the state of the existing U.S. immigration system.
“There are backlogs in the immigration courts. The Supreme Court has said that migrants are entitled to due process before they’re deported,” Sandweg said. “That means Trump is going to have to find a way to bypass those immigration courts.”
“I think during the campaign, just in all candor, I don’t think they had a clear road map for how they’re going to kind of overcome those challenges,” he added.
Throughout the campaign cycle, Trump has touted a “Day 1 agenda” that oftentimes focused on border and immigration crackdowns, saying at nearly every rally, “On Day 1, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history.”
When asked about the finances of his plan during an interview with NBC News, Trump insisted that “there is no price tag.”
NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.
