This summer at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, attendees waved signs reading, “Mass Deportation Now.” Since then, it’s become a rallying cry for conservatives who see undocumented immigration as a top issue facing Americans. Former President Donald Trump has promised to launch the largest deportation program in U.S. history on the first day of his administration.
Milwaukee-based immigration lawyer Davorin Odrcic represents people facing deportation. He says there are two categories of people who end up in immigration court. One group is people who have just arrived, "who recently came into the United States either entering without inspection, or going to a port of entry and simply asking for asylum." The other group is people who have been in the U.S. for some time but lack status, often referred to as undocumented.
"There are a lot of people...that have been here for years typically," Odrcic explains. "Those folks will get into immigration court probably because they they got convicted of something, an OWI, other offenses. That's one of the main ways that Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) learns about someone."
The deportation process begins with ICE filing a document called a "notice to appear" in immigration court, that outlines allegations against the person. Odrcic says the allegations could include not being a citizen or entering the U.S. without inspection. The second phase of immigration court is determining if there is any type of relief or application the person can file to remain.
"That's often where the big fight is," Odrcic says. "Do they have an application and are they eligible? And if they are eligible, should it be granted?"
Trump has vowed to deport as many as 20 million people, despite there only being a suspected 11.7 million undocumented immigrants in the country. Odrcic says that could only happen if current laws aren't followed.
He says people who have been living in the U.S. for a while, who haven't been deported and don't have an order of removal, are entitled to go through the immigration court process.
"If he just wanted to do this just in violation of the law, then he would probably be able to achieve significantly more than what I think is achievable within what we currently have," Odrcic explains.
However, the mass deportation message may have other impacts.
"They're going to try to probably sow fear in the immigrant communities with the hope that people will self-deport, that they'll just be so afraid and they'll just leave," Odrcic says. "I don't know if that will work or not, and I think people that have been here for a significant amount of time, they have roots, they've got U.S. citizen kids, they have jobs. I don't think they're just going to get up and leave."
