Trump promised the 'largest deportation' in US history. Here's how he might start

Morning Edition is diving into promises President-elect Donald Trump said he would fulfill in his second term. NPR's Steve Inskeep asks immigration policy expert Andrew Selee about Trump's pledge to deport millions of immigrants.

What Trump said about deporting immigrants

While campaigning, President-elect Donald Trump promised "On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America." He referenced 1954's "Operation Wetback," an effort ordered by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Government estimates showed more than a million mostly Mexican immigrants and some U.S. citizens were rounded up. The program got its official name from a racist term for Mexicans who swam or waded across the Rio Grande.

He also said he would use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to precipitate the removal of undocumented migrants from the U.S. and "dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American soil" at an Oct. 25 campaign rally.

Trump may start by trying to remove newer arrivals and expanding deportation guidelines

Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, said Trump's mass deportation plan could begin with the removal of hundreds of thousands of new arrivals admitted under programs instituted by President Biden.

"The first thing we know he will almost certainly do is cancel humanitarian parole for people that received it, people who came through CBP One, this app that people use to schedule an appointment to come across the border," Selee said.

He also pointed to the possibility of Trump going after people with Temporary Protected Status, a limited status offered to people displaced from their home countries by extreme circumstances, and people admitted under a program offered to Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians and Nicaraguans.

Selee also said Trump could change deportation guidelines for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement so that the agency can arrest and put undocumented immigrants in deportation proceedings more freely.

"That is something that changed under the Biden administration, where they were primarily pursuing people who had criminal records or people who are a threat to national security," Selee said.

Selee also says Trump has talked about expanding detention facilities, "But whether he'll be able to use military bases or not or other federal facilities and whether he will try and use the military itself, and that would require going back to the [Alien Enemies Act of 1798]."

Trump could argue for using of the more than 200-year-old law to override due process and justify using military support for arresting and holding people without legal status.

Selee added that people living in Republican-controlled states are much more likely to see enforcement actions.

"We saw that during the last Trump administration. There were very successful enforcement efforts against people who are here illegally in red states because local law enforcement was willing to collaborate," Selee said.

He added that, though law enforcement in blue states didn't outright refuse to cooperate, they didn't put large amounts of resources into collaborating with immigration enforcement.

What Trump's team says

NPR asked the Trump transition team if the president-elect had more specific details on how his plan to carry out mass deportations would begin. Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt offered the following statement in response:

"The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. He will deliver."

Trump's appointments signal seriousness about his enforcement actions

This week, Trump announced he would make Tom Homan his "border czar" overseeing the north and south U.S. borders. Homan led ICE in an acting capacity for about a year and a half during his first term. Border czar is not an official cabinet position and it's unclear exactly what role Homan would take.

Before the election, Homan said enforcement would focus on immigrants who pose "public safety threats and the national security threats first." He also indicated more workplace raids could happen.

A CBS journalist asked Homan during an October interview if family separations could be avoided during mass deportations, particularly in the case of U.S. citizen children with undocumented parents. Homan responded by saying "Families can be deported together."

Trump also announced the expected return of Stephen Miller, the hardline immigration restrictionist who is seen as the architect of the Muslim travel ban and the controversial "zero tolerance" policy that separated thousands of children from their parents at the southern border. The reunification of some 1,400 children with their families had not been confirmed as of April this year.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was also tapped to lead Homeland Security, the cabinet that oversees immigration benefits and enforcement. Noem deployed National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border several times in recent years.