Chuck DarwinAlthough Trump has complained that the United States is overstretched in its foreign commitments
—such as its support for Ukraine and NATO allies
—he appears to have ample plans for #Latin #America.
Trump’s most frequently repeated plan for the region is to 💥deport millions of undocumented Latin Americans 💥from the United States.
He has called for deportations of all undocumented U.S. residents, ♦️estimated in 2022 by the Department of Homeland Security as 11 million people; ♦️as of 2021, that population included roughly 4 million Mexicans,
more than 2 million Central Americans,
and more than half a million people each from the Caribbean and South America, according to Pew.
Signs distributed at this week’s Republican National Convention said
🔥“Mass Deportation Now.”🔥
There are major legal and technical roadblocks to carrying out this sort of operation, immigration experts say.
For one, 🔸deportations generally necessitate court proceedings in an already overwhelmed immigration court system.
🔸They also require cooperation from origin countries.
But Trump advisor #Stephen #Miller has said the former president would unleash ♦️“the vast arsenal of federal powers”
♦️to overcome normal legal principles such as due process.
Being on the receiving end of mass deportations could be highly destabilizing for #labor #markets in Latin American countries,
worsening the conditions that prompted some people to emigrate in the first place.
🔹And lack of decent work could prompt more people to seek out organized criminal groups
—which Trump has pledged to combat with #military #force.
While Trump was talked down during his first term from using military force both in Mexico and Venezuela by then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper,
his selection of #Vance as his running mate suggests that the second-term team assembled by Trump might provide less pushback.
🔥Vance called for the president to “use the power of the U.S. military to go after these drug cartels” 🔥in an interview with NBC News that sounded alarm in Mexico.
⭐️Trump has also pledged 10 percent #tariffs on all worldwide imports.
👉If he makes good on that promise, it would deeply impact trade with the region.
And one of Trump’s former Latin America advisors, #Maurício #Claver-#Carone, wrote in Americas Quarterly this week that
a second Trump administration should #deprioritize support for regional multilateral development banks, such as the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank,
in favor of bilateral deals with countries that are “friendly” to the United States.
Jeykhob ☭♑✊