In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s election to a second term as president, attention has turned to his highest-profile campaign promise: the mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
But uncertainty remains about the scope of Trump’s plans. Who exactly does he want to deport? And will he actually be able to carry out a “mass” deportation operation?
Trump and his allies say they will focus on “violent criminals,” staging rallies with posters of mugshots showing alleged “illegal immigrant gang members” and talking about immigrants as “invaders” who are “poisoning” the country with their “bad genes.”
But the fine print is always the same. When they say “criminals,” they mean all roughly 11 million undocumented people in the country, most of whom have lived in the United States here for years, have family and loved ones who are U.S. citizens, and have never committed a serious crime.
The real question is whether…
