A key Trump ally on immigration explains how mass deportations could work

TOPEKA, Kan. —  A Kansas official who is an informal advisor to President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team on immigration issues doesn’t expect mass deportations to prompt arrests of migrants at sensitive locations such as schools and churches.

But Kansas Atty. Gen. Kris Kobach does expect Trump to take action that will spark a legal challenge over the citizenship status of children born in the U.S. to immigrants living in the country illegally. He also expects Trump to encourage local and state law enforcement officers to help with efforts to arrest and detain migrants.

Kobach has for two decades been one of the most influential lawyers in the Republican movement to restrict illegal immigration. He is also a longtime Trump supporter who could be a key ally given federal immigration authorities’ need for state and local cooperation to carry out Trump’s promise of the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.

He said Wednesday that he’s in regular contact with Trump’s team, including Tom Homan, Trump’s pick for border czar, and Stephen Miller, incoming deputy White House chief of staff for policy. He made his comments during an interview with the Associated Press. Here are excerpts:

Is it realistic to try to remove millions of immigrants?

Critics of Trump’s mass deportation plans argue that he’s promising to remove millions of immigrants from the U.S. and that’s logistically not possible. But Kobach and other Trump allies think only a portion of those migrants would have to be deported for the effort to succeed.

Kobach: “Once there’s a massive enforcement effort going on, then a lot of people start leaving on their own.”

“You can put a multiplier on that number, and it’ll be a much greater number. They will start leaving on their own because they don’t want to get arrested. They want to leave on their own terms, and so I don’t know — we don’t know — what that multiplier number is going to be, but there will be one.”

What about arrests at sensitive locations?

Immigrant rights advocates worry the Trump administration will rescind a long-standing policy of avoiding arrests of migrants at sensitive locations such as schools, hospitals and houses of worship.

Kobach: “I haven’t heard this. ... First of all, I don’t think that you are likely to see K-12 students being arrested. It’s going to be the adults that are going to be the focus of the removals.”

“There are some places that are better to make an arrest than others. 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. So I think they’re probably going to have to make decisions as to which ones involve the least risk to the public.”

Is an attempt to end birthright citizenship coming?

Birthright citizenship means 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 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 issued requests for information about 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.”

Hanna writes for the Associated Press.