10
Loading video...
By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
President-elect Donald Trump has said he is considering building detention camps to house migrants ahead of the implementation of his mass deportation policy.
Cracking down on undocumented immigrants was a cornerstone pledge of Trump's 2024 presidential election campaign as he vowed to carry out the largest deportation program in U.S. history.
Trump addressed the logistic challenges of detaining large numbers of undocumented immigrants before their removal from the United States in an interview with Time, and when asked whether he would need to build more detention facilities to hold detained migrants, Trump said there "might be" more.
Read More on News
...
"Whatever it takes to get them out. I don't care. Honestly, whatever it takes to get them out," he said.
"If it needs new camps, but I hope we're not going to need too many because I want to get them out, and I don't want them sitting in camp for the next 20 years," he added.
Newsweek has contacted the Trump-Vance transition team for further comment via email.
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham has offered Trump and incoming border czar Tom Homan land to carry out their immigration agenda.
Buckingham, a former Republican state senator, said the newly acquired plots would be offered to the Trump administration for the construction of detention centers aimed at housing migrants slated for deportation as part of Trump's mass deportation efforts.
"A facility here will be the final stop for processing before these violent criminals are deported. This will reduce the burden on our local jails and keep our Texas children safer," Buckingham said at a press conference in Starr County on Tuesday, November 26.
Trump, who won the popular vote for the first time in three attempts, has continued to lay out his hard-line immigration agenda—a cornerstone of his campaign that propelled him back to the White House.
He appeared to dismiss economists' concerns that deporting millions of migrant agricultural workers could lead to a sharp increase in the price of goods, telling Time: "No, because we're going to let people in, but we have to let them in legally. We don't want people to come in from jails."
In an interview with NBC's Meet the Press, he suggested mixed-status families could be deported and pledged to end birthright citizenship.
"We're going to end that because it's ridiculous," Trump said, before conceding it might not be possible. "Well, if we can, through executive action."
His comments, however, have already drawn criticism from human rights groups and immigrant advocates, who are concerned about his immigration policies.
A letter signed by seven prominent Democratic senators, obtained by Newsweek, was sent to President Joe Biden, urging immediate action to protect current legal migrants.
The Democratic governor of New Mexico has strongly opposed President-elect Donald Trump's proposal to deploy the National Guard for mass deportations, criticizing the plan as harmful to families and the state's economy.
In a previous exclusive statement to Newsweek, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham stressed her commitment to opposing policies that she believes would "wreak havoc" on New Mexico's workforce and communities.
"I will not assign the New Mexico National Guard to assist with mass deportations that break up families and wreak havoc on our economy in New Mexico. Federalizing the guard so that we have no one here to deal with natural disasters and other emergencies is untenable," Lujan Grisham said.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines