Trump admits mass deportation of undocumented immigrants from the country ‘will be a bloody story’

MOSINEE, WISCONSIN: Former president Donald Trump made it clear at a rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin that immigration will be his first priority if he’s reelected in November. He didn’t hold back — warning that removing undocumented immigrants from the homeland could be a "bloody story".

Trump, 78, made his intentions known when he told his supporters, "And ya know getting them out will be a bloody story," referring to the potential large-scale removal of undocumented immigrants.

"[They] should have never been allowed to come into our country. Nobody checked them," he added.

A clip of the former president's remarks was posted to X by @KamalaHQ.

Republicans opt for 'aggressive plan' to stop cross-border policies

Donald Trump’s comments come on the heels of the Republican National Committee’s adoption of a new set of immigration policy priorities at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July.

The RNC’s platform doesn’t mince words. "Republicans offer an aggressive plan to stop the open-border policies that have opened the floodgates to a tidal wave of illegal aliens, deadly drugs, and migrant crime," the document states.

The platform lays out a series of bold policy points: the need to "seal the border, and stop the migrant invasion," to "carry out the largest deportation operation in American history," as well as the need to "stop the migrant crime epidemic, demolish the foreign drug cartels, crush gang violence, and lock up violent offenders."

According to Newsweek, this marks quite a shift from the RNC’s previous platforms in 2016 and 2020 which included more conciliatory language about the contributions of immigrants to American society.

The 2024 platform, however, vows to "restore every border policy of the Trump administration", including completing the unfinished border wall and reinforcing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Furthermore, it pushes for harsher penalties for illegal entry and visa overstays and calls for the reinstatement of Trump’s 'Remain in Mexico' policy.

JD Vance's call for mass deportations

Ohio Senator JD Vance—Donald Trump’s choice for vice president—has been a vocal supporter of the aforementioned policies.

Vance has echoed Trump’s rhetoric, especially regarding the need for mass deportations.

"We have to deport people, we have to deport people who broke our laws who came in here, and I think we start with the violent criminals," Vance said during the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin.

In a fundraising statement, he declared: "We need to deport every single person who invaded our country illegally."

Vance linked immigration to housing issues in his convention speech.

"Then the Democrats flooded this country with millions of illegal aliens. So citizens had to compete with people who shouldn't even be here for precious housing," he said. Data from the Migration Policy Institute shows that about 28 percent of illegal immigrants own homes.

Not everyone within the Republican Party is on board with the idea of mass deportations. Representative Tony Gonzales—a Republican from Texas who represents the largest stretch of the US-Mexico border in Congress—was skeptical about the feasibility of such a plan.

Gonzales previously told Newsweek, "You're not going to round up 10 million people and deport them. It's simple—you do not have the infrastructure to do that."

Gonzales also warned that completely shutting down the border could have far-reaching economic consequences. "There's not one industry that is not tied to the US-Mexico border," he added.

Republicans vs Democrats: The broader immigration debate

The debate over immigration is only expected to intensify as we inch closer to the November election. Both parties are seeking to present two completely different visions to voters.

While Trump and the RNC are taking the hardline approach, Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has pledged to revive President Joe Biden’s failed bipartisan border security bill.

Recent data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) shows that over 620,000 immigration court deportation cases were filed in fiscal year 2023 and only around 236,000 resulted in removals. This, however, surpassed the 187,000 removals that occurred during the peak of Trump’s administration in 2019.

With an estimated 11.3 million immigrants in the US without legal status, one could say addressing the immigration crisis is an enormous challenge.