Popular Information reports:

Former President Donald Trump has promised that he will start mass deportations if he wins in November. The promise has become a central selling point of his 2024 campaign. At a campaign rally in Michigan this summer, Trump vowed, “As soon as I take the oath of office, we will begin the largest deportation operation in the history of our country.”

In April, during an interview with TIME, Trump laid out his plan for mass deportations, stating that he will use “local law enforcement” and “the National Guard.” Trump also said he would “not rule out” building new migrant detention facilities and that he would use the military “if necessary.” When TIME told Trump that deploying the military against civilians is prohibited under the Posse Comitatus Act, Trump responded, “Well, these aren’t civilians. These are people that aren’t legally in our country.”

Trump has promised that one of his first targets will be Springfield, Ohio, where Trump and his allies have, on numerous occasions, falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants are eating neighborhood pets. “[W]e will do large deportations from Springfield, Ohio. Large deportations. We’re gonna get these people out,” Trump said last week at a press conference in California. (The Haitian immigrants that Trump and his allies are targeting are in the country legally.) Trump also promised to prioritize deportations from Aurora, Colorado, where Trump has falsely claimed that Venezuelan immigrants are “taking over the whole town.”

A new Scripps News/Ipsos poll surveyed voters about what they thought of Trump’s plan, asking if they “support the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.” Fifty-four percent of respondents either “strongly” or “somewhat support” the policy. This includes “86% of Republicans, 58% of independents, and 25% of Democrats.”

But the results of the poll tell us less about the actual views of American voters, and more about the overall failure of the media and others to educate citizens on what exactly Trump’s plans for mass deportation entail. The policy is not something that can be summarized in a seven-word poll question. Mass deportations of immigrants would divert law enforcement from critical tasks, cost billions of dollars, break up families, damage the economy, and compromise the nation’s values. [Continue reading…]