SAN DIEGO — On Monday, President-elect Trump confirmed that he will use the U.S. military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
Although his inauguration is more than two months away, Mr. Trump has wasted no time in naming his Homeland Security team. It includes immigration hardliner Stephen Miller, as well as former acting ICE director Tom Homan as his "border czar."
Mr. Trump has also made it clear that once his second term begins, he will waste no time carrying out his deportation plans.
It is a promise that President-elect Trump reiterated many times on the campaign trail..
"On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out," he said.
On Monday, Mr. Trump confirmed via social media that he plans to declare a national emergency, and use the U.S. military.
"Right now, everyone in the immigrant community is very fearful," said Gente Unida Executive Director Enrique Morones. Gente Unida advocates for immigrants' rights.
"They don't know what to do... Some of them haven't been back in Mexico or other countries in a long time," Morones said. "It is a very scary time for them."
Morones is concerned that the future of the nation's migrant policy will resemble its dark past, including the past two times the U.S. government deported immigrants on a mass scale.
Some of them weren't migrants," he said. "Some of them were citizens, but because they look like I do, they deported them. And some of them had a hard time getting back."
During the Great Depression, an estimated two million people were shipped out of the country in an effort to save American jobs. Another wave of mass deportations came in the 1950s, with a move that the U.S. government called "Operation Wetback."
"It was horrific," Morones said. "A lot of people were hurt. A lot of people were U.S. citizens in Mexico for the first time really. There was a lot of confusion and there was a lot of terror."
While Morones expects legal challenges to Mr. Trump's moves, some legal scholars said that by declaring a state of emergency, he would be able to tap into additional funding and resources to carry out mass deportations.
"The Pentagon budget, that's where the money is," said former DHS Assistant Secretary Tom Warrick. "It's where the people are. It's where the aircraft are, and I don't see him doing this without significant involvement from the U.S. military."
According to CBS News, Mr. Trump's team is considering issuing executive orders in the first days of his presidency. These executive orders would be designed to stand up to any legal challenges that might be posed to the mass deportation plans.