Trump’s Catastrophic Agenda for Mass Deportation & Detention

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Incoming President Trump’s stated plans around mass deportation and immigration detention will be catastrophic for millions of people across the country.

As we prepare for this terrifying landscape, here’s what we are planning for, and how — with you behind us — we are fighting back. You can also read about why the United States’ border policies are not working — for anyone — and what real solutions are on the table.

In short: Trump and his extremist allies have promised to “carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.”

We’re worried for our neighbors, friends, and family members. We’re worried about white supremacy and attacks on immigrant communities. We’re worried about abusive detention, including the detention of families. We’re worried about family separation and trauma for children.

There is no time to lose. We are already hearing intel about raids impacting communities on Day 1. Each of us must know what’s at stake and must raise our voices for human rights.

For humanity.

In President Trump’s first term, he separated children from their parents and put them in cages. He levied the horrific, xenophobic Muslim and Africa bans. He slammed the door shut on asylum. Separated toddlers had to represent themselves in court at their own immigration hearings.

We met these moments with a powerful response:

• We investigated and exposed the cruelty of Trump’s family separation policy;

• We campaigned and won the freedom of dozens of asylum-seekers from immigration detention;

• We extensively documented conditions in ICE detention since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to releases of thousands of people and bringing down detention numbers to their lowest in years.

• We blasted cities in Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. with billboards and ads calling on ICE to stop detaining families

We are ready to lead the resistance to Trump’s attacks on the rights of immigrants and people seeking safety — starting on his first day.

Here’s how we plan to respond:

• Our teams are preparing to immediately file requests to access ICE detention centers to monitor human rights conditions inside;

• We will be fighting in Congress to block funding to the agencies behind the detention and deportation machine;

• We are building power with communities in cities targeted by Trump, in order to respond to the raids and take on the cases of people pushed into deportation;

• We will fight for the future by making space to not just fight back against Trump’s anti-human rights policies, but build power and support for the wins we want to see in the future.

• Here are some key questions and priorities on our work for refugee and migrant rights:

• Why are we focusing on refugee and migrant rights?

Incoming President Trump’s history and campaign promises warn of major threats to numerous human rights. He has stated plans to “carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history” and to deploy the military at the border to stop people seeking safety once in office – and has made that his top priority.

• So we’ve been preparing to make his priority OUR priority, and fight like hell for everyone’s human rights on Day 1, especially when it comes to refugees and migrants.

• What damage has Trump already done on the campaign trail?

Trump’s campaign promises and rhetoric stood out for their cruelty and misinformation. He especially misled the public with false and dangerous claims about immigrants.

• Bigotry, xenophobia, and the enabling and abetting of white supremacy have left people throughout the U.S. dangerously vulnerable to abuses. Trump has said he wants to enact policies that will make things even worse and potentially embolden some to take matters in their own hands. Fearmongering and extremism from Trump and his allies are likely to sow division and fear as mass deportations ensue.

• Beyond executive orders, where might we see a near-term attack on immigrant communities?

Congress has already started, passing cruel, anti-immigrant legislation during their first week of the new Congress. Congressional leadership has committed to passing border wall and enforcement funding in the upcoming budget fight to give the Trump administration the resources it needs to jumpstart the harmful and xenophobic policies proposed by President Trump.

• People’s lives should NEVER be used for political gamesmanship, whether they come to the U.S. seeking safety or are already here, contributing to their communities. Members of Congress must reject the Trump administration’s hateful attacks on immigrant communities and must NOT fund the deportation and detention agenda.

• What do we need to know about mass deportation?

With Trump 2.0, we expect swift and cruel deportation tactics, like workplace and neighborhood raids and immigration detention expansion, designed to create a media spectacle that will dehumanize and criminalize our immigrant neighbors, friends, family members, and coworkers. Trump has also stated intent to strip away the limited protections for foreign-born workers, expand U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to target immigrants, deny the right to asylum, and worsen conditions at the border — advancing harmful policies at the expense of people in search of safety.

• What do we need to know about immigration detention?

Family separation and detention is a cruel practice that results in significant trauma for children. Immigration detention is largely unnecessary, rife with systemic abuses, completely arbitrary, and in many of the cases we have seen in the U.S., unlawful under international law. The Trump administration has promised to rapidly expand detention, using tent camps, overcrowding, and a lowering of standards. During Trump’s first term, Amnesty fought to successfully shut down detention centers — and we’re ready to do so again.

• What can we do?

Mostafa Kamal: Our movement must be a powerful antidote to any and all of the hate and injustice we fear are ahead.

• As we have done for decades, we will defend human rights next week, next month, and every day in the years to come. We will continue to document and expose human rights abuses on the world stage, advocate for the human rights of all immigrants in the U.S., and hold government officials accountable. We will rally Members of Congress to block funding of Trump’s deportation machine – and we will be calling on you when the time comes to do that.

• Together, we will stop President Trump’s mass deportation and immigration detention agenda. We will uphold our shared humanity. We will need your activism, your membership, and your support to fuel this work so that we are the strongest we can possibly be.

Amy Fischer

Director of Refugee and Migrant Rights

Amnesty International USA