Actual ICE Deportations
Bottom Line: Many met President Trump’s Monday night Tweet regarding a new deportation program that’d start as early as next week with a high degree of skepticism. Yesterday I shared the initial follow-up from ICE that made clear this was more than political posturing in advance of President Trump’s 2020 campaign kickoff. The plan clearly laid out how they intended to go about the deportations...by identifying illegal immigrants that have been processed for deportation by the court system but have remained in the country.
We’ve now learned from acting ICE Director, Mark Morgan, that the program will include a voluntary component. Anyone ordered for deportation who’s remained in the country will be provided 30 days to attend to their affairs prior to being deported if they come forward. Anyone who doesn’t come forward but is detained will immediately be processed for deportation. In the meantime, we have an idea of what this initiative would entail to deport a million illegal immigrants over the next year.
ICE has averaged 7,000 deportations per month most recently. That’s only a pace of 84,000 per year. In order to reach a million, we’re talking about an average of greater than 2,700 deportations per day. In other words, come Monday when this plan potentially goes in force, there’s the potential for dramatic increases in ICE detentions and deportations. I have a feeling that many won’t take the voluntary route at the onset in the hopes that they can continue to fly under the radar. If ICE follows through with this plan however, and it's clear they’re serious in carrying through with their plans, I could see many opting for the voluntary option which would dramatically aid ICE in achieving the goals outlined by the president and ICE director.