MIAMI – The threat of mass deportation under a potential new Trump administration looms large, with a new report indicating that hundreds of thousands of Floridians might be expelled from the country if the plan is enacted.
More than 21 million people call Florida home. Just over a million of them — about 5% — are undocumented immigrants.
Thomas Kennedy, with the Florida Immigrant Coalition, expressed concern.
“I don’t think people understand, and I don’t think they could stomach it, if it actually comes to pass,” he said.
Referring to candidate Trump’s mass deportation promise, Kennedy stated, “One out of 20 Floridians could be deported under this insane, unhinged campaign plan.”
The American Immigration Council, a Washington think tank, ran the numbers. Their report found it would cost a conservative $315 billion.
Kennedy says the human costs would be greater.
“(People) that have children who are U.S. citizens, that have spouses who are U.S. citizens, who have fully formed careers, and also car loans and mortgages — it would be so disruptive,” he said.
Kennedy continued, “I mean, it’s inhumane. It’s cruel. It’s immoral.”
The researchers indicate that just about every one of the state’s crucial economic sectors would feel the impact too, prompting labor shortages across construction, agriculture and hospitality, which would drive prices higher for everyone.
For Kennedy, what’s most striking is “the fact that we haven’t had comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship since 1986.”
Kennedy is a citizen now. He was 10 when he and his parents came to the U.S. from Argentina.
Some time later, their tourist visas expired, meaning they were once undocumented.
“We’ve lived over 35 years now without a single pathway to citizenship being granted by Congress to the millions of undocumented people that are working in this country, and it’s about time that Congress does its job and legislates this,” he said.