Vanessa Cárdenas: Miller and Homan announcements are “disturbing, if unsurprising, signals that we should take Donald Trump seriously and literally” about mass deportations and “unsparing, indiscriminate, and costly nature of what’s to come.”
Washington, DC — The news that Stephen Miller and Tom Homan will be appointed to major immigration policy positions that will not require Senate confirmation is a disturbing signal about the immigration direction of the second Trump term.
The following is a statement from Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“The Stephen Miller and Tom Homan appointments are disturbing, if unsurprising, signals that we should take Donald Trump seriously and literally about his proposed largest deportation operation in American history and the unsparing, indiscriminate, and costly nature of what’s to come. Despite continued claims by Trump allies about targeting supposed criminals, the Trump team is simultaneously pledging to get rid of enforcement priorities that make such targeting possible, while Miller and Homan have admitted that the mass deportations will be indiscriminate and unsparing. This means plans to target long-settled immigrants and efforts to ‘un-document’ TPS holders, DACA recipients, asylum seekers, and others with current legal status aim to make as many people as possible deportable.
That this will be costly for all Americans should be beyond dispute – as New York Times columnist and Nobel economist Paul Krugman reminds us, voters who were animated by inflation concerns will see their grocery bills rise further because of Trump’s mass deportations. So, millions who voted for Trump because they think their grocery bills are too high are about to get a wake-up call when mass deportation leads to inflationary pressures, especially in food and agriculture. In every poll we have seen, a majority of Americans oppose Trump’s plan of unsparing mass deportations and instead the majority supports legal status for long-settled immigrants (see exit poll questions listed at bottom here for latest reminders).
Unfortunately, the costs, consequences, and human toll of mass deportations are only one part of a larger agenda we’re in for under Trump 2.0 – from seeking to gut the 14th amendment and aiming to redefine who gets to be an American citizen to plans to slash legal immigration and redefine who is a ‘legal’ resident to Trump’s broader effort to silence dissent and exact retribution against political opposition, there will be a lot to reckon with, defend against, and eventually rebuild from.”
A Wall Street Journal editorial, “Trump’s Mass Deportation Promise,” notes in part:
“Some of Mr. Trump’s advisers, including Mr. Miller, have talked about mass deportation in sweeping terms … The public backs him on securing the border and reducing the burden that migrants have put on cities across the country. But as Mr. Trump appears to realize, support will ebb if the public sees crying children as their parents are deported, or reads stories of long-settled families broken up and “dreamers” brought here illegally as children deported to countries that they no longer remember. Even as Mr. Biden’s failures turned the public against immigration, Gallup this summer said 81% of Americans want a path to citizenship for those “brought to the U.S. illegally as children.” That included 64% of Republicans.”
In addition to New York Times columnist and economist Paul Krugman’s latest, “Why Trump’s Deportations Will Drive Up Your Grocery Bill,” referenced above, also read CNBC’s coverage, “What Trump’s mass deportation plan would mean for immigrant workers and the economy” and find additional resources below.
Additional Resources
- Recording of America’s Voice October press briefing on the economic, logistical, community, and family consequences of mass deportation, featuring a range of experts highlighting why the proposed unsparing mass deportations would be devastating for all of America. Watch the briefing here.
- Read The Boston Globe op-ed from leading expert Michael Ettlinger, “Trump’s plan to vaporize the economy” and find related economic analyses: “Literature Review on the Economic Consequences of the Deportation of Unauthorized Immigrants,” by Robert G. Lynch (Washington College – Department of Economics) and Michael Ettlinger (University of New Hampshire) and “The Economic Impact on Citizens and Authorized Immigrants of Mass Deportation” by Robert Lynch and Michael Ettlinger.
- American Immigration Council report on the costs of mass deportation finds it would cause GDP to drop by 4.2-6.8%, which is more than the Great Recession. The full report and findings are worth reading and available here.
- America’s Voice legal advisor David Leopold overview in Talking Points Memo, “An Immigration Lawyer On The Truth About Birthright Citizenship”
