Why Trump's Promise to Deport a Million Illegals a Year Is Impossible, and It's Already Shown

President Trump's promise to deport "millions and millions" of illegal immigrants is facing a harsh reality. Less than four weeks into the new administration, the government is stretched to its limits, the newspaper writes. Axios.

Photo: Zerbor | Dreamstime.com

The lack of funding, space, staff and infrastructure to process detained immigrants has left many involved in the process frustrated. The goal of 1 million deportations this year appears unrealistic.

That prompted the White House to ask Congress for an immediate $175 billion in funding to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) expand detention center capacity, staffing and other needs.

"At the end of the day, we just have to spend the money," said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. "Unfortunately, American taxpayers are going to have to foot the bill."

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According to White House and ICE data published by X, ICE officers and cooperating agencies detain between 600 and 1100 people daily.

At that rate, the administration will arrest about 25 immigrants in the first month of Trump's presidency, far short of the stated goal of 000 million deportations per year that Vice President Vance voiced during the campaign.

Since Trump took office on January 20, a shortage of space in detention centers has led to more than 460 detainees being released under the “catch and release” program, under which they agree to be supervised and appear for immigration court hearings.

"The system was not originally designed to deport this many people," said Adriel D. Orozco, senior policy adviser at the American Immigration Council.

Here are the main obstacles to implementing Trump's plan:

Places of detentionBorder Coordinator Tom Homan wants to increase capacity to 100 — more than double ICE's current capacity, which is about 000 people a day and nearly full.

Increasing capacity will require private contractors, other parts of the U.S. government, and local prisons. Trump’s team has struck deals with foreign governments to create additional space.

The overall strategy includes a plan to hold up to 30 detainees at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Representatives of CoreCivic, a private prison company that operates 12 facilities that contract space for ICE, said it had proposed expanding ICE’s access by an additional 28 beds. The company said its leadership is in daily contact with the Trump team.

Problem with media coverageThe White House has been actively publicizing its arrests and raids, in part to encourage illegal immigrants to "self-deport," or leave the United States voluntarily.

But Homan now says the widespread coverage could be hindering ICE operations.

"It's all about operational security," Homan said. "We may have to stop journalists from participating in raids. The fewer people who know about our operations, the safer it is for our agents."

The White House has not released daily arrest reports since Feb. 4, when it reported 815 arrests.

StaffCarrying out arrests and detentions on the scale Trump plans will require significantly more law enforcement.

To reach its goal of 1 million arrests a year, ICE needs 30 new officers, according to the American Immigration Council. The study estimates that would cost $000 billion annually.

ICE and the Department of Homeland Security's Investigative Division have issued a solicitation for a contract to assist with the recruitment of new officers.

Overburdened courts. There are currently more than 3,5 million cases pending in immigration court, a number that has increased significantly under the Biden administration as waves of migrants sought asylum at the southern border.

People can apply for asylum within one year of arriving in the United States, even if they entered without permission.

The immigration court system needs more judges to handle an overload that would take about four years to resolve at the current rate.

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Unreliable partnersTrump's team has reached agreements with Venezuela, India and El Salvador to organize deportation flights and repatriate their citizens.

However, many countries refuse to take back their citizens, including China, Cuba and Russia. They are called "uncooperative countries."

The administration could suspend visas to citizens of these countries (as Trump almost did with Colombia), but has not yet used that leverage.

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