Mary Trump Sounds Alarm on ‘Ruinous Cost’ of Donald Trump’s Campaign Pledge

Mary Trump, the estranged niece of former President Donald Trump, called out the “ruinous costs” of her uncle’s pitch for domestic deportation.

“Donald Trump, [whose] rampage against immigrants has reached a fever pitch, has promised ‘the largest domestic deportation operation in American history,'” Mary Trump wrote Thursday on her Substack blog. “Leaving aside the moral horror explicit in that proposal, I have yet to see sustained analyses of the ruinous costs of even attempting such an effort.”

Immigration is once again one of the top issues concerning voters in this presidential election, with the former president promising the most extensive deportation program in American history.

The Republican Party says it would target illegal or undocumented migrants living in the United States, giving a figure of 11 million. Trump’s plan was announced as a core part of the GOP’s immigration policy for 2024.

Trump policy adviser Stephen Miller promised a 100 percent deportation rate at the border by bringing back policies including “remain in Mexico” and Title 42 restrictions used during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump said at a press conference in Los Angeles that the work would start in Springfield, Ohio, and Aurora, Colorado, reiterating the claims of a Venezuelan gang takeover in Aurora as well as unfounded accusations that Haitian migrants in Springfield have been eating residents’ pets.

“We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country,” Trump said in September. “And we’re going to start with Springfield and Aurora.”

Trump has promised mass deportations as part of his election campaign for months, promising that the National Guard and local law enforcement would remove millions of illegal immigrants.

Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

“The people of Ohio are scared,” Trump said Friday. “The people of Colorado…you have a governor there who is very weak. He doesn’t know what to do.”

Deportations have increased under President Joe Biden, whom Trump has heavily criticized, alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, on border security. An effort by Biden to allow undocumented migrants to apply for permanent residency without leaving the country has been paused following a challenge by Republican attorneys general.

Many of the illegal or undocumented migrants in the U.S. have been in the country for many years and are waiting for their immigration cases to be heard.

Harris faced questions about immigration during her media blitz this week, including during her interview with 60 Minutes.

When asked if she regretted the Biden administration’s early decision to loosen immigration policies, Harris defended the administration’s approach.

“It’s a long-standing problem, and solutions are at hand, and from Day One, literally, we have been offering solutions,” she said.

On Tuesday, immigration advocacy groups fighting two lawsuits from Republican states over protections for Dreamers and undocumented relatives called for clarity from Biden and Harris.

The outcome of two suits, which center around Biden’s program to offer a path to green cards and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, could affect over one million people.

“It is a cynical and cruel effort to ensure as many people as possible are deportable, if and when Donald Trump takes office and when the elements of Project 2025 and his mass deportation efforts begin to be carried out,” Vanessa Cardenas, executive director at America’s Voice said.

A survey by Scripps News/Ipsos released last month showed voters felt more confident that Trump would deliver on his border plans than Harris. One-quarter of registered Democrats questioned supported the mass deportation of undocumented migrants.

Across all voters asked in the Scripps News/Ipsos poll, 54 percent said they “strongly” or “somewhat support” mass deportations, with nearly 60 percent saying they were closely following the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border.