President Trump ordered the Department of Homeland Security on Friday to increase the number of U.S. deportation troops with 20,000 officers.
In a clause that plunged into a presidential declaration focusing on undocumented immigrants to voluntarily leave the country, Trump called on the Department of Homeland Security to commence contracts with “deputies with state and local law enforcement officers, former federal officers, officers and other federal agencies and other individuals.”
It was unclear how such efforts would be funded. It is one of several major logistical hurdles for such large-scale operations. Currently, around 6,000 officers are focusing on deportation efforts in immigration and custom enforcement.
Trump has previously pushed to represent state and local law enforcement officials for immigration enforcement, and for the number of homeland security officials, he has already signed a series of agreements with local law enforcement agencies in the months since he took office. Later last month, local Florida law enforcement officials supported ICE in an operation that led to the arrest of more than 1,100 immigrants statewide.
Over the past few months, the Trump administration has tried to do good to the president's massive deportation promise by making massive raids in major cities, allowing police officers to have the freedom to arrest international students and arrest them like courts. But he is still struggling to reach the pace necessary for Trump's vast deportation goals.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has pushed immigrants to leave the country with their own agreement, a concept known as “self-abolization.” Earlier this week, department officials said they would voluntarily leave immigrants $1,000 and travel expenses and do so using government apps.
In his declaration on Friday, Trump repeatedly called out, labeling it “homecoming of the project.”
“This declaration establishes the homecoming of the project. It presents an option for illegal aliens. You will either voluntarily leave federal and financial support or stay with the consequences and face the consequences,” the declaration read.
Trump ordered the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department to launch a “national communications campaign,” informing immigrants of offers of self-denial and warning them that not doing so will result.
In addition to being arrested and deported, the declaration warned that immigrants could face “finances, wage decorations and confiscation of personal property, including savings and household vehicles, consistent with laws applicable to immigration-related crimes.”
