Trump's deportation ambitions face harsh reality check
Immigration officers and analysts are expressing growing skepticism about the Trump administration's plans to deport one million immigrants within a year. The Washington Post cites experts who consider this goal unattainable, if not outright impossible.
The newspaper emphasizes that deporting one million people in a year would significantly surpass previous records. The current record is over 400,000 deportations during Barack Obama's presidency.
"Analysts say the available statistics make that target appear unrealistic, if not impossible, given funding, staffing levels and the fact that most immigrants have the right to a court hearing before being removed from the country." evaluates the Washington Post.
One strategy officials are considering to quickly increase the number of deportations is finding ways to remove part of the 1.4 million immigrants who have already received final deportation orders. The problem is that they cannot be deported because their home countries refuse to accept them.
The administration is negotiating with almost 30 third countries. It hopes to send "thousands" of immigrants to these countries, directing them, among others, to Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panama.
Washington Post: Trump's media spectacle
"Trump officials have made a spectacle of sending hundreds of detainees to a mega-prison in El Salvador and the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, but those are a tiny fraction of those in the country illegally," highlights the Washington Post.
"Most of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States are entitled to an immigration court hearing before they can be deported, including criminals, and with the current backlogs, those can take months or years to resolve," forecasts the Washington newspaper.
Experts predict that even locating the 1.4 million people with outstanding deportation orders may prove to be an extremely difficult task.
