[aftbit]

The DHS post I linked says "America After 100 Million Deportations". If you assume there are 20 million people who entered the US illegally (which I believe is a substantial over-estimate), then that means they need to find another 80 million people to deport to meet that ridiculous goal. Who will those people be?

>a majority of people still favor deportation of those who entered the IS illegally regardless of other criminal acts.

I'm not so sure about this. I think it depends on whose polls you believe. Here's one from Fox News from July of 2025 (before the absolute SNAFU in Minneapolis) which claims:

>The latest Fox News survey, released Monday, finds 3 in 10 back deporting all illegal immigrants, while 6 in 10 supports only deporting those charged with crimes but would allow others to stay and apply for citizenship. One in 10 favors letting all illegal immigrants remain in the U.S.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-poll-support-depor...

[tracker1]

I said 30m is the most bloated of estimates... the 20m often cited is just under the Biden administration, I'm considering all living illegal aliens in the country.

In any case, I'm not a fan of creating a quasi-slave class out of illegal immigration. I think there should be stiff penalties that actually start to get applied to employers. I think it's fine to have demand based immigration, most people that can pass a security check and have a place to go should be allowed in.

However, that should be offset by a few restrictions... first, no social welfare benefits from taxpayer funds, or orgs that receive taxpayer funding. Second, pay floors based on job class. H1B should get paid at least $50/hr and farm workers at least $20/hr imo. I also think there should be a 100% employer paid tax that is used to fund education grants for STEM and vocational programs in the US. The pay floors and tax on imported labor are expressly to secure the future of citizens and act as a ballast against excess immigration to the detriment of existing citizens and working resident aliens.

I also think that you should have 10 years to assimilate and apply for citizenship... this should include learning the English language or ASL/braille if you are deaf. Citizenship testing should be in English or ASL/braille without benefit of a translator. I also think we need to eliminate birthright citizenship, that I don't believe the implementors meant for it to be interpreted nearly as broadly as it is currently applied.

I consider my takes above to be pretty reasonable... that said, I do feel that anyone who entered illegally and especially those in the country for decades without assimilating by learning the language well enough to communicate or to even attempt at becoming a legal resident should be deported. Not just those who commit felonies. While I'm pretty libertarian in most of my views, I think borders and national identity are important and both have been diluted for generations. Even if the "rah rah 'merica!" position was mostly propaganda, I feel it was largely beneficial to the nation as a whole.