On Sunday, President-elect Donald Trump made a commitment to deport U.S. citizens as part of his initiative to control undocumented immigration, labeling them as collateral damage in his comprehensive immigration strategy.
In an interview with Meet the Press‘ Kristen Welker, Trump expressed his desire to evade the family separation crisis that affected his previous administration. However, he mentioned that achieving this goal would necessitate that mixed-immigration families—those with undocumented parents and U.S. citizen children—must leave as a unit.
“I want to avoid breaking apart families, so the only solution to prevent family disruption is to keep them together and send them all back,” he asserted.
Trump seemed to recognize that this policy may not be well-received, yet he insisted it is essential for ensuring adherence to the law.
“There will always be issues found like, you know, ‘This isn’t effective. That isn’t effective,’” Trump stated. “What will truly be awful is when we take a wonderful young woman who is associated with a criminal. They’ll capture her on camera, and although she might legally stay, the footage will show her being removed. Or if they want her out, the cameras will catch her weeping as she leaves our country. The public may react negatively towards us. But we must fulfill our responsibilities, and there need to be a set of standards and laws in place. Ultimately, our nation is in disarray.”
The family-separation policy was enacted during Trump’s first term in 2017, leading to significant backlash and criticism over the “zero tolerance” approach. Tom Homan, who will serve as Trump’s incoming “border czar,” has pledged to reinstate this policy, affirming to CBS in October that families “can be deported together.” Trump echoed his support for Homan’s position on Sunday.
Additionally, Trump promised to abolish birthright citizenship on the first day of his new administration, indicating that he would seek a method to bypass the 14th Amendment, which currently guarantees citizenship.
“We will need to change this,” he remarked. “We may have to go back to the voters. But it needs to be put to an end.”
