‘I don’t want to be breaking up families’ – Trump on immigration

The US president-elect plans to end birthright citizenship and deport Americans along with illegal family members

Incoming US President Donald Trump has outlined his immigration policies, including mass deportation plans that were a key promise of his election campaign.

In his first TV interview since his re-election to the White House, he said on Sunday that he intends to end birthright citizenship and deport families with mixed immigration status.

Trump had promised during the campaign that, if elected, he would lead “the largest deportation operation in American history.” According to the president-elect, deportations will start with undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes, then move to “people outside of criminals.”

“We have people coming here by the millions that shouldn’t be here. When they come here illegally, they’re going out... We have to get the criminals out of our country,” he told Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker, claiming that the US “is a mess” because of a crime rate that he partially blames on illegal migrants.

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Welker then asked Trump about the fate of families living in the US who have mixed immigration status – for example, parents who arrived illegally, but have since had children born in the country. According to the Center for Migration Studies, there are an estimated 4.7 million households in the US defined as “mixed-status.” Trump said such families could be deported together, but that family members with legal status would be given a choice to either go or stay.

“I don’t want to be breaking up families. So the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back… We’ll send the whole family, very humanely, back to the country where they came [from],” he stated.

Trump also reiterated an earlier promise to end ‘birthright citizenship’, a policy guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, under which any child born within US borders is automatically granted American citizenship. 

“We have to end it. It’s ridiculous,” he stated, explaining that he would do this through an executive action if necessary to get around the 14th Amendment. According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump’s transition team is already working on several versions of such an order, as the move could lead to an expanded legal fight.

READ MORE: Trump taps border-control hardliner for key position

Trump noted, however, that the so-called “dreamers,” or people who were brought to the US illegally as children, may have a chance to stay, pledging to work with lawmakers to make this possible.

Trump has appointed two border-control and immigration hardliners to key positions in his new administration. Kristi Noem will head the Department of Homeland Security, and Tom Homan will be Trump’s new ‘border czar’. According to Trump, the pair will work closely to secure the border and “make America safe again.”