Trump should deport criminals, but let’s be reasonable

President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge on Sunday to deport between 2 million and 3 million criminal immigrants raises concerns about how he plans to execute such a massive undertaking and who exactly he will target.

We agree with both Trump and President Barack Obama that immigrants convicted of felonies should be deported, but we urge Trump to quell the chills his statement sent through immigrant communities by explaining more fully his plans.

The fear of deportation is a real thing, especially for school children who are unable to control their situation or the fate of their parents, and now is the time for the president-elect to use his power, or even Twitter, to reassure people he will act humanely. Crime thrives in an environment where the threat of deportation prevents victims and witnesses from contacting law enforcement or even from seeking emergency medical attention.

Trump has indicated he will extort the cooperation of municipal and county governments in this mass deportation by withholding federal funds to agencies that refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Against such a backdrop, the mayors of Denver and Aurora rightly pushed back on the idea that they will play an active role in identifying people for deportation.

“We are not going to do the job of the federal government. What we are going to do is make sure we remain an inclusive city,” Denver Mayor Michael Hancock told The Denver Post’s Mark K. Matthews.

Obama’s administration estimates there are about 1.9 million people in the U.S. who could be deported, including those who have been convicted of nonviolent crimes such as theft, according to a New York Times story headlined “What Donald Trump’s Vow to Deport 3 Million Immigrants Would Mean.”

That same story noted that since 2009 Obama has presided over the deportation of 2.5 million immigrants. According to the Pew Research Center, net immigration from Mexico has actually remained steady or even declined with more people returning to Mexico than entering the United States between 2009 and 2014.

But as Obama oversaw those deportations, he issued a controversial executive order that offered Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. It’s based on the assumption that these are good people, and in exchange for entrusting the federal government with their information and re-entering society, they would not be deported.

But those facts and Obama’s good will don’t fit the narrative Trump has been pushing since the day he entered the race, saying that the U.S. has become a “dumping ground for everybody else’s problems.”

Trump has demonized immigrants in his climb to the White House, blaming a powerless population, unable to even vote, for what ails America.

We call on him to recognize the immigrants’ humanity and his own and reconsider his inexorable march to mass deportation.

As Trump pursues his campaign promises to secure the border and deport “bad hombres,” we ask that he do so without upending communities and inciting the kind of mass fear among vulnerable populations that allows crime to flourish.

He should publicly pledge to uphold existing deferred deportation agreements, a move that could help quell the rising fear of an already marginalized community.

And he should pledge to respect local police and sheriff’s office’s autonomy and necessary due process before deportation. — The Denver Post, Digital

First Media

We call on him to recognize the immigrants’ humanity and his own and reconsider his inexorable march to mass deportation.