In an interview with Time Magazine on April 30, 2024, Trump discussed his agenda for a second term, which includes deporting millions of people using the military. Trump envisions a series of mass deportation camps that would require military support.

“I think in terms of the National Guard. But if I thought things were getting out of control, I would have no problem using the military, per se,” Trump said. “We have to have safety in our country. We have to have law and order in our country. And whichever gets us there, but I think the National Guard will do the job.” During Trump’s first term, the Department of Homeland Security considered using National Guard troops to round up unauthorized immigrants but the plans ultimately never came to fruition.

“The Posse Comitatus Act says that you can’t deploy the U.S. military against civilians,” Cortellessa noted. “Would you override that?”

“Well, these aren’t civilians,” Trump responded. “These are people that aren’t legally in our country. This is an invasion of our country — an invasion like probably no country has ever seen before. They’re coming in by the millions. I believe we have 15 million now. And I think you’ll have 20 million by the time this ends. And that’s bigger than almost every state.”

Trump has made cracking down on immigration a centerpiece of his reelection campaign, repeating a strategy that worked for him when he first ran for office. He’s accused migrants of “poisoning the blood of the country” and referred to people in the U.S. illegally who are suspected of committing crimes as “animals.”

Trump explained some of his plans that he wants to put in place on day one, January 20, 2025, if he wins reelection—a suite of aggressive actions on the border and on immigration—a massive deportation operation. Trump explained, “So if you look back into the 1950s, Dwight Eisenhower, he’s not known for that, you know, you don’t think of him that way. Because you see, Ike, but Dwight Eisenhower was very big on illegal immigration not coming into our country. And he did a massive deportation of people. He was doing it for a long time. He got very proficient at it. He was bringing them just to the other side of the border. And they would be back in the country within a matter of days. And then he started bringing them 3,000 miles away—”

How Would He Get Local Law Enforcement Onboard?

When asked about how he would get local law enforcement to participate in his massive deportation operations he stated his willingness to you use funding incentives.

He was asked, “Does that mean you would create funding incentives from the federal government for state and local police departments?”

Trump: “It could very well be. I want to give police immunity from prosecution because the liberal groups or the progressive groups, depending on what they want to be called, somewhat liberal, somewhat progressive, but they are—they’re very strong on the fact that they want to leave everybody in, I guess, I don’t know. You know, sanctuary cities are failing all over the place.” 

PROTECTING POLICE?

In a strange statement, even for Trump, he stated that he wanted to protect police from prosecution for their actions. Trump said:

We want to protect police from prosecution.

Trump: Police have been—their authority has been taken away. If something happens with them, even if they’re doing a very good job, they take away their house, they take away their pension, they take away their, I mean, essentially, they end up losing their families over it. They take away everything. They prosecute people. And we have to give the police back the power and respect that they deserve.

Donald Trump in Times Magazine Interview https://time.com/6972022/donald-trump-transcript-2024-election/

One thing seems abundantly clear when it comes to a possible Trump second term, it is not going to be good for immigrants in the United States.