WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump, who made anti-immigration rhetoric a key part of his re-election campaign, warned Wednesday that he would deport hundreds of thousands of immigrants who entered the country under two key Biden administration programs if he is re-elected.
Speaking to Fox News, Trump criticized two immigration programs the Biden administration has created to encourage migrants not to come directly to the southern border to seek asylum and to reduce chaos in the region.
Trump said he would allow the more than 1 million people who entered the U.S. through the two programs to leave: “Get ready to leave, because you’re going to be out very quickly.”
Trump has already promised a massive crackdown on immigration if he’s re-elected, including a pledge to carry out mass deportations of migrants. He made similar promises during previous campaigns, but during his time in office, deportations have never exceeded 350,000.
Under a Biden administration program, migrants as far as Mexico’s border with Guatemala can use a smartphone app called CBP One to schedule a date to arrive at an official U.S. border crossing to seek asylum. So far, 813,000 migrants have used the system since it launched in January 2023.
In addition, the administration last year launched a program that allows 30,000 people a month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter the United States if they have a financial sponsor, undergo a background check and purchase a ticket to fly to a U.S. airport instead of the southern border. About 530,000 people have come to the U.S. through that program.
Migrants who use either program are allowed to enter the country on a humanitarian basis for two years. The Biden administration has touted both policies as ways to ease chaos at the border with Mexico, break up vicious smuggling networks and better screen migrants before they enter the country.
But Republicans say both programs effectively circumvent the nation’s immigration laws, which are set by Congress, and allow the Biden administration to allow people who otherwise would not be eligible to come to the U.S.
Republican-led states have filed lawsuits to stop both policies.
After earlier promises of mass deportations of migrants, Trump and his chief architect of immigration policy, Stephen Miller, are now providing more details on how he plans to carry out those promises during a second term in the White House, including invoking war powers, relying on like-minded governors and deploying the military.
However, attempting to deport migrants on such a large scale would almost certainly face legal, logistical and financial challenges.
