By Associated Press’s John Hanna
(AP) TOPEKA, Kan. Mass deportations won’t lead to the arrest of migrants at sensitive sites like churches and schools, according to a Kansas official who serves as an informal consultant on immigration matters to President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team.
Kris Kobach, the attorney general for Kansas, does anticipate that Trump would take a step that will lead to a judicial challenge about the citizenship status of children born in the United States to illegal immigrants. Additionally, he anticipates that Trump would support state and local law enforcement in their efforts to apprehend and hold migrants.
One of the most important attorneys in the Republican drive to limit illegal immigration for the past 20 years has been Kobach. Additionally, he has been a lifelong Trump supporter and might be a valuable ally in light of the fact that federal immigration authorities require state and local cooperation in order to fulfill Trump’s pledge to launch the biggest deportation operation in American history.
He stated on Wednesday that he often communicates with Trump’s team, which includes Stephen Miller, the incoming deputy White House chief of staff for policy, and Tom Homan, Trump’s choice for border czar. In an interview with The Associated Press, he said these things. Here are some quotes:
Is it realistic to try to remove millions of immigrants?
Opponents of Trump’s proposals for mass deportations contend that his pledge to expel millions of immigrants from the country is impractical. However, Kobach and other Trump supporters believe that the endeavor would be successful if only a portion of those individuals were deported.
KOBACH: Many people begin to leave on their own once there is a significant enforcement activity underway.
That figure will be significantly larger if you multiply it. Because they don’t want to get arrested, they will begin to leave on their own. There will be a multiplication number, but we don’t know what it will be since they want to depart on their own terms.
What about arrests at sensitive locations?
Immigrant rights advocates worry the Trump administration will rescind a longstanding policy of avoiding arrests of migrants at sensitive locations such as schools, hospitals and houses of worship.
KOBACH: I’ve never heard of this. First of all, I don’t believe that arrests of K–12 pupils are likely to occur. The grownups are going to be the ones targeted by the removals.
Certain locations are better than others for making an arrest. There are reasons why the policy of a police department is different with regard to a high-speed chase in a neighborhood versus a high-speed chase on a highway. Therefore, I believe they will likely need to decide which ones pose the least risk to the general population.
Is an attempt to end birthright citizenship coming?
Birthright citizenshipmeans that anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen, whatever the legal status of their parents. Trump has promised to end it, though others say the 14th Amendment enshrines it in the U.S. Constitution.
KOBACH: Whatever the Trump administration does will certainly be litigated because it s one of those hot-button issues.
I believe that the Trump administration has every intention of addressing this issue, in his second term.
How would state and local officials help?
The Trump administration would need the help of state and local officials in its efforts to deport millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
A provision in federal immigration law allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to make agreements with state and law enforcement agencies to deputize and train officers to arrest migrants.
KOBACH: They can provide a force multiplier to the federal government, and I think that is the biggest and best thing that the states and counties can do to help. … The point is, it casts a daily net.
I don t see how a massive deportation program can possibly succeed without it.
Where would immigrants be detained?
President Joe Biden s administration cut the number of beds that ICE had for detaining immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. However, in August, the agency issuedrequests for informationabout the potential for new detention centers in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington, documents show.
Trump could seek new contracts with counties to keep immigrants in their jails, and Kobach said he s previously worked as a lawyer for some Texas counties with bigger jails than they need for local offenders.
KOBACH: The Trump administration, the people in the immigration sphere, are well aware of this problem, and I ve talked to them.
A few of those (Texas) counties have a really big facility, jail, and the reason it s so big is they want to contract with other counties and with the federal government.
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