Welcome back.
While the plans for a second Trump term continue to
come into focus, there are big questions about what could
happen to mixed status families, as they're called, if those
mass deportations are carried out.
A mixed status family, That means some family members are
undocumented while others are U.S.
citizens.
Well, the American Immigration Council, a pro immigration advocacy group,
estimates up to 4 million mixed status families could be
separated.
Now, mass deportations, of course, became one of Mr.
Trump's biggest campaign promises.
It's still unclear exactly how those deportations will be carried
out and how families will be impacted.
But we're getting some information.
And we have NBC News Homeland Security correspondent Julia Ainsley
joining us with her latest reporting here.
Julia, good morning.
So you've reported exclusively this month on a bunch of
this stuff here, but that the Trump transition team specifically
is eyeing new detention centers near major U.S.
cities, with the goal being to hold double the amount
of migrants awaiting deportation after their arrests inside the US.
Walk us through exactly what that means.
Double what?
What is that number?
What does that mean?
We might see.
Are we getting a clearer image of how this is
going to go down?
All right, so right now, the Congress has given ICE
the ability to be able to hold 41,000 immigrants and
ICE detention at one time.
That doesn't mean that they can't deport more because it's
a place where they hold them before they are deported.
And right now, a lot of that space is being
used for migrants who have just crossed the border.
They're detained and then released later for a court date.
This would use those beds in the opposite direction and
double them up to 80,000.
And honestly, Savannah, since that reporting, I've heard the number
could be even higher.
And they're in talks with private prison companies to figure
out what they can do to get the most amount
of beds online soon.
That might mean building temporary facilities or soft sided facilities.
They've used this in the past along the border when
there's an influx in order to get as many people
in beds as possible.
This would be for migrants who are living in the
United States and are arrested and are being held before
their deportation flights.
So, Julia, given what we know, I, I just used
that term mixed status family.
So some family members, U.S.
citizens, others undocumented.
Are we hearing what those types of people, what those
groups of people are doing to plan for this?
And this is where I have to give credit to
Dede Martinez, who were at this amazing story over the
weekend.
I can report on these details, but Dede really gets
to the heart of this.
She interviewed a family and there are many like them,
we understand, up to 4 million across the country that
could be separated.
This family she talked to in Pennsylvania is preparing for
the possibility that the husband, the father of these children,
could be deported.
And so the mother is busy getting her children's passports.
As you know, you have to have two parents present
to get a child's passport.
They're doing things like getting power of attorney.
And some households were told where both parents could be
deported.
But the children are U.S.
citizens.
They're putting together packets with adult contacts where to find
the nearest family member if they come home from school
to an empty home.
Savannah, Julia, walk us through any legal challenges that could
play out once President-elect Trump is in office.
And if we do start to see these mass deportations
take place, well, there are many being prepared quietly in
the background.
We saw just last week the ACLU filed for Freedom
of Information to try to get more information about what
the Trump transition team is going to use for their
flights.
When they start doing these deportations.
We can expect that they're going to be very closely
looking at how Trump tries to go about this.
If he does enact an old law from the 1700s
that would constitute immigration in the United States as an
alien invasion from a foreign power, they'll very quickly challenge
that, saying that's unconstitutional because because clearly these migrants are
not coming on behalf of a foreign government, That that
would be a real stretch for the Trump team to
try to make that argument.
They'll also look at other things like if there are
ways they go about this when they want to invoke
the military, anytime that they want to push anyone back
to a country that is not their own.
We've seen the Trump, the previous Trump administration try that
in the past, take nationalities and send them to a
country like Guatemala, even though if they're not from Guatemala,
there are a number of ways they'll challenge it.
Whether or not they can just deport someone or challenge
someone just for deporting them.
That seems like more of a stretch, but it's the
way they'll go about it.
They'll find ways to challenge it in court.
Julia Ainsley, fabulous reporting as always.
Thank you very much.