President-elect Trump confirmed Monday he is planning to declare a national emergency and use the U.S. military to carry out mass deportations, Axios reports. Trump made his promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants one of the cornerstones of his 2024 campaign, and his team is strategizing how to carry its plan out. A Truth Social post early Monday is the first time the president-elect has confirmed how his administration will execute the controversial plan. Tom Fitton of the conservative group Judicial Watch posted on Truth Social this month that Trump was "prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program." Trump reposted Fitton's comment Monday with the caption, "TRUE!!"
There are an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. Trump's mass deportations are expected to affect about 20 million families across the country. Immigration advocates and lawyers are preparing to challenge the plan in court. Trump's team is aiming to craft executive orders that can withstand legal challenges to avoid a similar defeat of Trump's Muslim ban in his first term. Trump's plans include ending the parole program for undocumented immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Trump is filling his Cabinet positions with immigration hardliners. This includes Tom Homan, the former acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as his "border czar. and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).