During his inaugural address, President Trump promised to deport “millions and millions of criminal aliens.” I have a new essay exploring this premise. In it, I note:
- There are not “millions and millions” of removable noncitizens who have criminal convictions.
- Trump has rescinded requirements to focus on public safety threats.
- Trump is mandating ICE officers arrest a certain number of people per day, even if the officers think the arrests are unjustified.
- One report found that only half of those arrested on one day last week had a criminal conviction or pending criminal charges.
- A new report not available at the time of my piece includes data showing that a majority of the 8,200 arrested do not have a criminal conviction of any kind.
- Trump is redefining an alien with a “criminal record” to mean anyone here illegally, even as he takes away people’s legal status to make them here illegally.
- Trump is diverting criminal law enforcement to work on arrests of low-level immigration offenders.
You can read the entire piece here.