President-elect Donald Trump has confirmed he is prepared to declare a national emergency and deploy military assets to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, fulfilling a key campaign promise, Al Jazeera reports.
The announcement, made Monday on Truth Social, followed a post by Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton suggesting the incoming administration would take such drastic measures. Trump simply replied, “True!!!”
This represents the most explicit statement yet on Trump’s plan for what he has called the “largest deportation operation” in US history. The announcement has drawn immediate condemnation from human rights advocates and sparked concerns about its legality and feasibility. Legal challenges are all but guaranteed.
While Trump repeatedly pledged mass deportations during his successful re-election campaign, he previously offered little detail on implementation. An estimated 11 to 13 million undocumented immigrants reside in the US, and experts warn a mass deportation effort would be enormously expensive and logistically complex, requiring a massive expansion of detention facilities and enforcement personnel. Humanitarian groups have voiced serious concerns about the potential consequences of such a policy.
The use of military assets for domestic law enforcement purposes raises significant constitutional questions. Experts are divided on the extent of the president’s authority in this area, and the legality of a national emergency declaration specifically for mass deportations is highly contested.
