Trump's Immigration Plans

A bad sign, if he is serious.

I find Donald Trump and Joe Biden detestable as human beings. That’s a separate issue, though, from their proposed policies.

One reason I have come to favor Trump over Biden in recent months is that I think there is a substantial difference in the policies they favor. Trump is less of an interventionist in other countries’ affairs and is less likely to get us into an all-out war. That’s a big difference. He also opposes many of the regulations that Biden has imposed and, if elected, would probably have appointees who would work to deregulate. If you want more details about the kinds of things he might do, based on what he has done, read University of Chicago economist Casey B. Mulligan’s excellent book You’re Hired: Untold Successes and Failures of a Populist President. Or, if you don’t have time, read my review of Casey’s book. Also, although Trump was a huge spender and isn’t serious about trimming Social Security and Medicare, Biden is a huger spender who isn’t serious about trimming Social Security and Medicare.

We often hear that Trump would end democracy by siccing the government on his political opponents. But we had 4 years to judge him on that and he didn’t do it. During the 2016 campaign, when he attacked his main opponent, Hilary Clinton, many of his fans chanted “Lock her up.” It was creepy. He seemed to have encouraged it. Interestingly, by the way, while he seemed to enjoy it, I can’t find an instance of his joining the chant. In any case, what did he do to sic the feds on Hilary once he was elected? Nothing. And it’s not as if she wasn’t vulnerable legally.

It’s true that he could be more aggressive against his political opponents if he wins the presidency this time around. But then we still have to compare him to the main alternative: Joe Biden. Biden has an Attorney General who has appointed a special prosecutor (who, by the way, according to Yale Law School professor Steven Calabresi, does not even have legal standing) to go after Donald Trump.

So on the basis of the above, I favor Trump on points.

Or at least I did favor him.

Then I read a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal weekend issue. Keep in mind that it’s a news story, not an editorial. Why does that matter? As (then UCLA) economist Tim Groseclose pointed out in his book Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind, the WSJ reporters were more slanted left than any of the other contenders, a group that included the New York Times, ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, and NPR’s Morning Edition. (His book was written in 2011; my impression is that all of those contenders have become even more slanted.) If you don’t have time to read Groseclose’s book, read my review.

With that in mind, apply your own filter to the following from Michelle Hackman and Andrew Restuccia, “Trump’s Advisers Planning Crackdown on Immigration,” Wall Street Journal, May 18-19, 2024:

A cadre of former Trump administration officials, Trump supporters and conservative immigration wonks are writing executive orders, policy memos and other documents in a bid to transform campaign rhetoric into policy. The goal, the people said, is to be ready on the first day of a Trump presidency to stem the flow of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, unwind President Biden’s immigration agenda and lay the groundwork for what the former president has said would be the largest mass deportation in U.S. history.

And later in the piece:

Pulling off an extensive deportation operation—Trump said recently that he is targeting as many as 20 million people—would require coordination at every level of government, as well as the military. Advisers are eyeing military bases for expanded detention capacity and making plans to deputize red-state governors to deploy National Guard troops to add to the ranks of immigration officers making arrests. The former president and his advisers are also discussing using local and state law enforcement to aid the effort. 

This could be bluster, something that Donald Trump is known for. But it certainly gives me pause.