Donald Trump said on Monday that his administration would declare a national emergency and use the US military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

In an early morning social media post, Trump responded “TRUE!!!” to a post by Tom Fitton, the president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, who wrote on 8 November that the next administration “will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program”.

Since his decisive victory, Trump has said he intends to make good on his campaign promise to execute mass deportations, beginning on the first day of his presidency. But many aspects of what he has described as the “largest deportation program in American history” remain unclear.

Trump has previously suggested he would rely on wartime powers, military troops and sympathetic state and local leaders. Such a sprawling campaign – and the use of military personnel to carry it out – is almost certain to draw legal challenges and pushback from Democratic leaders, some of whom have already said they would refuse to cooperate with Trump’s deportation agenda.

  • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I don’t think this will work the way he expects. While he has the ‘legal’ authority to take command of a State’s National Guard, there is absolutely no way a single one of the governors would allow this. The red states may allow the military into their bluer cities, but the Democrat governors have largely already said they’ll refuse it.

    The largest issue is that the “Mass Deportations” don’t forcibly remove people from the country. They have to process where they all get sent. Guess where they concentrate the immigrants? Guess what happens when those facilities get too full to use them as a cheap source of labor or keep them fed?

  • Retreaux@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    The It Could Happen Here podcast pointed out that the sheer amount of financial maneuvering to pull this off would not be an insignificant amount, from detention centers to staffing, etc. Not that it’s an impossible task but it’s a lot bigger to pull off than bOtH SiDeS tend to think.

    • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I’m not sure how much of a financial burden the staffing side will actually be. Trump’s campaign has been going around the heartland for 2-3 years, gathering up the names of eager supporters who want to help him in any way possible.

      I’m pretty sure if those volunteers are told they will a) be helping Dear Leader, b) be given unchecked powers to torment and intimidate Latinos/Latinas, they will leap at the opportunity. And they will probably happily pay for any accommodation and food out if their own pocket.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      17 hours ago

      Well Texas just offered Trump the land for it. So that covers that (though I’m sure he’ll find a way to get taxpayers to pay for it and take a cut)

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Also, how will this reverse prices back to the “good old days” of donvict’s first tenure?

    I mean, I’m using my entire paycheck up on a dozen eggs, or so “JD” “Vance” told me.

    • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Imagine you create a world where currency becomes less and less valuable. Essentially it becomes worthless.

      Debts, will, of course, soar out of control. Trump, banks, private equity, mortgages, etc. Everyone is underwater.

      How do people eat? How do people get medical care? How do people have shelter? Why it’s easy of course. The Party provides. “But wait that’s communism!” Hold on there buddy, communism is collectivism. This isn’t collectivism, this is fascism. The Government takes control of failing businesses, and decides who continues to be rich and who doesn’t. Workers are provided new “currency” tied to essentially paying the owners of everything the right to work, eat, be sheltered, and get medicine. In exchange, they do exactly what they are told. If you step out of line, well, there is a camp for that.

      “They couldn’t enforce such a thing.” China and Russia already have. I would not call it successful, at some point it will fail rapidly and harshly, Fascism always does.

      There is no end game here. The intent is absolute power. The consequences aren’t important for those that obtain the power during their lifetime.

    • Snowclone@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      It will destroy the economy, entire sectors of commerce will end, and Trump was trying to shut down all trade from the southern boarder entirely his whole last term, no matter how many times his staff told him billions of dollars in trade cross the boarder every single day. If he dosen’t have people in place willing to tell him no. Which he’s getting really good at placing yes men everywhere, then he’ll probably do that as well, and might do it with flights and trains from the south of the US as well. If that happens and he’s dumping billions into depopulating the US by 22mil the US is going see the worst economic disaster in our history by several magnitudes. Maybe enough protesters get organized and strategically block road for long enough to actually slow them down, but with the US military I don’t see that happening.

    • athairmor@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Isn’t it illegal to use the military internally? The National Guard, maybe. But, they answer to the state government.

      He’ll have pushback if not outright mutiny from the military if he tries to use them against civilians, citizens or not.

      • minnow@lemmy.world
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        Why do you think his first order of business is to court martial anybody who he thinks won’t do his bidding?

      • Mirshe@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Ahh, but this is why he’s already forming a board to throw out any officers that are brash enough to get in his way, bypassing official channels. The endgame, as I see it, is a complete reorganization of the command structure, ending with something that looks like Russia, where specific orders come directly from the top of the government all the way down the chain, to squad-level sometimes. This gets rid of the extremely effective tactical flexibility that made the US so effective in WWII, but it also makes it so you can just axe any part of that totem pole that’s stupid enough to get in your way without much problem.

        • tyler@programming.dev
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          2 days ago

          I don’t know much about military structure, but this sure does sound like something straight out of Putin’s book to make the US weaker, weak enough to attack.

          Not that it would have any chance, but Putin’s a moron anyway so.

          • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            If we are in the middle of an active shooting civil war as a consequence of this, it sure would have a chance. Also, the qons seem to be in their pockets anyway.

          • Snowclone@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            Fascism is an excellent way to weaken a country. Strong centralized government is very important, but it needs to be an effective government, not one stupid asshole. When its 1000s of technocrats it works very well.

    • Bieren@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Simple. Door to door searches. Just like some European country in the 1930s. This will go over great until people start knocking on the doors of his worshippers.

      That, or like almost everything else he says, there is no detailed thought applied.

      • GladiusB@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        That is a lot of work for very little benefit. I doubt they will do anything other than waste money and not care about the environment.

    • Snowclone@lemmy.world
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      The sad part is, first nations folks don’t even want to do this, they serve in the armed forces at very high rates, I don’t mean it’s sad they are very much American, I mean it’s sad that they have more respect on average for other Americans than people have respect for them.

      • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Yup. Remember that right wing asshole candidate who yelled at a native American lady to ‘go back there she came from’? You can bet he will be gleeful about these plans.

        These people are totally lacking in any self-awareness or sense of history.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      21 hours ago

      Seems arbitrary, as a date. Deport everyone whose ancestors immigrated. That’s the ‘first’ nations, too.

      • toiletobserver@lemmy.world
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        20 hours ago

        Not entirely arbitrary. I tried to pick a date before the majority of Europeans immigrated. The goal was to point out the absurdity of the original idea by taking it to an extreme.

    • 14th_cylon@lemm.eeOP
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      2 days ago

      Decisive is winning popular vote, winning all swing states and having control of white house, congress and supreme court.

      • eran_morad@lemmy.world
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        Agree with you to an extent, but don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. That 2% will be mighty pissed when eggs cost $1 each and a head of lettuce is $12.75 on sale (but you better not have left your loyalty card at home). If our institutions hold (big if), the coming popular revolt could be formidable.

  • Noxy@yiffit.net
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    2 days ago

    how bout you deport your own ass to the polluted swamp that first congealed you