WASHINGTON: The space for illegal immigrants is shrinking in the United States (US) and Canada as President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to use military to deport them while Canada has also announced to cut jobs for immigrants.
President-elect Donald Trump confirmed Monday that he plans to declare a national emergency on border security and use the US military to carry out a mass deportation of undocumented migrants.
Immigration was a top issue in the election campaign, and Trump has promised to deport millions and stabilize the border with Mexico after record numbers of migrants crossed illegally during President Joe Biden’s administration.
On his social media platform Truth Social, Trump amplified a recent post by an activist that said the president-elect was “prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program.”
Alongside the repost, Trump commented, “True!”
Trump sealed a remarkable comeback to the presidency in his November 5 defeat of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump’s possible deportation plan is likely to impact 20 million families
He has been announcing a cabinet featuring immigration hardliners, naming former Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting chief Tom Homan as his “border czar.”
Homan appeared at the Republican National Convention in July, telling supporters: “I got a message to the millions of illegal immigrants that Joe Biden’s released in our country: You better start packing now.”
Authorities estimate that some 11 million people are living in the United States illegally. Trump’s deportation plan is expected directly to impact around 20 million families, according to AFP.
While the US government has struggled for years to manage its southern border with Mexico, Trump has super-charged concerns by claiming an “invasion” is underway by migrants he says will rape and murder Americans.
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During his campaign, Trump repeatedly railed against undocumented immigrants, employing incendiary rhetoric about foreigners who “poison the blood” of the United States and misleading his audiences about immigration statistics and policy.
Trump has not elaborated on his immigration crackdown in any detail but during his election campaign repeatedly vowed to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to speed up deportations.
The number of US border patrol encounters with migrants crossing from Mexico illegally is now about the same as in 2020, the last year of Trump’s first term, after peaking at a record 250,000 for the month of December 2023.
Canada’s new plan
According to Fox News, in a video message, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada’s government could have acted faster to combat massive influx of illegal immigrants entering the country following Covid-19 pandemic.
The Prime Minister expressed these remarks while giving reasons for limiting its country’s temporary foreign work program. According to Canada press, the country is also lowering the number of permanents residents permitted entry into the nation by around 27 percent by 2027.
Canada’s new plan, introduced officially last month, seeks to decrease the threshold of immigrants allowed into the nation who are making effort to seek permanent residency over the upcoming three years. In the first year, 2025, the permissible threshold will be decreased from 500,000 to 395,000, followed by a 2026 threshold of 380,000 immigrants seeking permanent residency and lastly, in 2027, the limit will be set at around 365,000.
The US media reported that in addition to the changes affecting immigrants seeking permanent residency, Canada will start limiting the number of temporary foreign workers permitted into the country for the first time. The aim of the program is to decrease the share of temporary foreign workers in Canada to about 5% of the overall population.
