President Donald Trump‘s promise on the eve of a campaign rally to begin deporting next week “millions” of people living in the U.S. illegally is raising the issue of how the administration could feasibly launch such a massive operation because it’s out of space to hold them.
Also in question would be whether the administration would further abandon its past focus of deporting undocumented migrants convicted of crimes in order to deport families, which at least one top official said was inevitable. Another concern would be that families could be separated, possibly leaving thousands of young children in limbo without guardians.
John Cohen, a former senior Homeland Security Department official and current ABC News contributor, said the logistics of such an operation would require diverting law enforcement from high priority criminal targets and put a significant strain on limited resources.