Sorry, Rick. The "report" you cited in your blog on Trump's deportation plan completely misses the mark. As with every other critique of the plan, the baseline assumption – despite Trump's explicit statements to the contrary – is that a vast police enforcement mechanism will be necessary to round up and deport millions of illegals.
Trump has outlined something very different, so this is disingenuous at best, and misleading BS at worst. I wrote about this last year, and everything that Trump ahs said since reinforces what I explained then. Trump has made the point that if illegals have behaved themselves a big, "beautiful door" will be open to them, letting them back in under legal status. They will leap at the chance to touch base south of the border, and come back in with the huge liability of illegality gone. As I wrote back in August:
Trump is offering what might be called a form of bare bones amnesty for the "good ones." They would pass an "expedited" process – perhaps a check for criminal records -- and be offered a permit to re-enter the United States as legal residents, perhaps for a designated period of time, probably with the option to renew for those who have a clean record.
Announcing that illegal immigrants with clean records have the opportunity to earn a green card-lite -- essentially an updated and improved version of the Bracero Program -- would evoke a massive response. No effort at all would be necessary to search for people, arrest them, and conduct hearings. They would be eager to come forward and fill out the paperwork for the expedited formalities. They could at last "come out of the shadows" and be able to bargain for wages on the same basis as the rest of the workforce. Once the first wave of illegals successfully re-entered the United States legally, nearly everyone eligible for the program would want to participate.
But yes, a certain amount of law enforcement effort would be necessary.
What of those not eligible? By definition, they are already on the radar of law enforcement agencies. And their communities, no longer fearful of immigration authorities and incentivized to avoid entanglements with law enforcement by aiding and abetting violations of immigration law, no longer would shelter them. In fact, they would have every reason to actively cooperate in their apprehension so as to maintain the legal status.
Trump actually has the outlines of a plan that would definitely not be the caricature this study claims.
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