President-elect Donald Trump promised mass deportations during his campaign, and sources familiar with the plan tell NBC News the incoming administration is already making plans. News4’s Walter Morris reports.
As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, the incoming administration is looking at how to reopen, expand or build immigrant detention centers near major cities, including D.C., sources told NBC News.
“Migrant invasion. An invasion like no country has ever seen before. We will stop it immediately. We will carry out the largest deportation operation,” Trump said in one campaign speech in September.
The incoming administration is now making moves to make good on the controversial campaign promise.
Conversations are underway with private prison companies, and the transition team has an eye on areas with large migrant populations, NBC News reported. Sources said the administration may reopen, expand or build new facilities near D.C., New York and Philadelphia, while cities including Denver, Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago may need more detention sites to accommodate migrants who are arrested.
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Sources tell NBC News the incoming administration wants to double the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) beds. Congress has currently allocated 41,000 beds.
The plan also would restart the policy of detaining parents with their children, known as family detention, which the Biden administration stopped in 2021.
The immigrant organization CASA is working to help immigrants in the D.C. area learn their rights, Executive Director Gustavo Torres said. He called plans for new detention centers “horrendous.”
“We are opposed to this. We are preparing our community to respond. It is so very important that our community knows what is their rights and responsibilities under this new administration, but also to make sure that people are ready in case that something’s happening,” he said.
“This new administration is attacking this community, and we are going to work together to make sure we respond to that attack," Torres added.
CASA has an “Immigration Know Your Rights” session planned for this month. The group distributes information on how to protect yourself during an immigration raid, when you have the right to speak with a lawyer and whether you can deny officials access to your home. Organizations including the ACLU also offer guidance on immigrants’ rights.
As immigrant advocates encourage local, state and federal lawmakers to push back against the plan, supporters of Trump’s mass deportation promise say they’re optimistic.
“What we’re seeing right now is simply the Trump administration and President Trump fulfilling the promises that he made on the campaign trail, which frankly are the reason that he got elected,” said Republican analyst Kennith Gonzalez. “He is somebody that pledged to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in the history of our country.”
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The sanctuary policies of cities controlled by Democrats would not prevent ICE from expanding detention centers there, sources told NBC News.
This article includes reporting by NBC News’ Julia Ainsley, Laura Strickler and Didi Martinez. Go here for their full report. Andrea Swalec also contributed reporting.
