President-elect Donald Trump indicated on Sunday that under his mass-deportation strategy, he would consider deporting both American citizens and their undocumented relatives to keep families united.
“I don’t want to be breaking up families,” Trump said during a pre-recorded interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “So the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back.”
When pressed about the status of children who are in the country illegally—or even legally—Trump suggested that he would be inclined to deport both the children and their parents in order to keep the family together.
“We don’t have to separate families,” Trump remarked. “We’ll send the whole family very humanely back to the country where they came.”
He further explained that the families would have input in certain aspects of the decision-making process.
“If they come here illegally but their family is here legally, then the family has a choice: The person that came in illegally can go out or they can all go out together.”
Tom Homan, who is slated to serve as Trump’s “border czar,” has supported the idea of deporting the children of undocumented immigrants, even if those minors were born in the United States and are thus legal residents.
Trump emphasized that the United States had no choice but to round up and deport anyone who entered the country illegally, starting with those who have committed crimes.
“I think you have to do it,” Trump said. “You have rules, regulations, laws. They came in illegally. The people that have been treated very unfairly are the people that have been [in] line for 10 years to come into the country.
“We have to get the criminals out of our country,” Trump continued, adding, “But we’re starting with the criminals, and we got to do it. And then we’re starting with others, and we’re going to see how it goes.”
Trump argued that his political platform resonated with voters because of concerns about the economy and border security, though he acknowledged some potential political fallout from his hardline deportation policies.
“I’ll tell you what’s going to be hard—when we take a wonderful young woman who’s with a criminal, and they show the woman and she could stay by the law, but they show the woman being [deported] … and then the public turns against us,” he said.
“But we have to do our job, and you have to have a series of standards and a series of laws.”
During his first term, Trump faced significant backlash over several tough immigration policies, including his administration’s controversial family separation practice.
In certain cases, his administration prosecuted adults or detained them in deportation facilities while children were placed in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services. Amid criticism, the administration reversed course and worked toward reunifying families.
Trump also addressed the issue of the so-called Dreamers—immigrants brought into the country illegally as children by their parents.
“The Dreamers are going to come later, and we have to do something about the Dreamers, because these are people that have been brought here at a very young age, and many of these are middle-aged people now,” Trump said.
“I will work with the Democrats on a plan, and [see] if we can come up with a plan. But the Democrats have made it very, very difficult to do anything. Republicans are very open to the Dreamers.”
Moderator Kristen Welker asked Trump if he hopes that Dreamers will be allowed to stay in the U.S.
“I do. I want them to work something out,” Trump replied.
Trump also reiterated his longstanding goal of ending birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and grants automatic citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil.
A well-known phenomenon among illegal immigrants has been the practice of entering the U.S. to give birth so that their children can gain citizenship.
“We have to end it. We’re the only country that has it,” Trump stated, calling the policy “ridiculous.”
However, according to a Library of Congress review, more than 30 nations have some form of birthright citizenship.
Trump suggested that his administration might seek to eliminate birthright citizenship through executive action.
Trump also hinted at a series of executive orders his team has prepared to address key issues like border security and the economy.
{Matzav.com}
