United States President-elect Donald Trump has confirmed he is “prepared” to declare a national emergency and use military assets to fulfil his 2024 election campaign promise to carry out mass deportations.
Trump announced on Monday in a short post on his Truth Social platform in response to a post by Tom Fitton, president of the conservative group Judicial Watch.
Fitton had written on November 8 that reports showed the incoming Trump administration was “prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets” in its “mass deportation” push.
Trump replied: “True!!!”
The statement is the firmest message yet on how Trump plans to fulfil his campaign promise to conduct the “largest deportation operation” in US history.
The effort has spurred condemnation from rights advocates and raised questions about the feasibility and the limits of Trump’s power as president to remove millions of undocumented immigrants from the country.
The Republican president-elect is also assured to face legal challenges however he proceeds.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said on Monday that under US law, presidents may declare a national emergency and exert emergency powers only in specific situations.
An estimated 11 million to 13 million undocumented residents live in the US, and immigration and human rights groups have long warned of the humanitarian fallout of a mass deportation effort.
An analysis by the American Immigration Council found that scaling up deportations to one million people a year would cost $967.9bn over a decade, about 4 times the current rate.
To avoid family separations, families can be deported together.
Trump intends to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 – a law that allows presidents to deport citizens of an “enemy nation” without the typical proceedings – when speaking about his deportation plans.