Donald Trump does not rule out separations of mixed-status families in mass deportation plan

SEATTLE - While visiting the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, former President Donald Trump said that the cost to deport millions of undocumented immigrants is justified and, in the long run, would be cheaper than allowing them to stay in the United States.

During a press conference held in the border town of Sierra Vista, Arizona, Trump did not rule out deporting undocumented immigrants who are part of mixed-status families. "Provisions will be made, but we have to get the criminals out," he said.

"It will cost trillions of dollars to keep these people, and I'm talking about in particular starting with the criminals," Trump said. "That is costing us a lot more than deporting. But we have no choice, regardless, we have no choice. We're going to have to deport," he added

When asked how he would pay to carry out his plan, Trump provided no details of a plan, which could cost billions of dollars to implement.

According to data from the immigration advocacy group FWD.us, 22 million people in the United States live in a mixed-status household, where at least one undocumented person lives with U.S. citizens, green card holders or other lawful residents.

During his speech, Trump reiterated that he would work with local law enforcement to apprehend migrants who entered the country illegally as part of his plan to implement the largest mass deportation in U.S. history.

"We'll work with locals — and they're going to bring them (migrants) to us — and we'll get them over the border, and we'll make arrangements with the countries, and the countries will accept them back, and if they don't accept them back, we do no trade with those countries, and we charge them big tariffs," Trump said in response to a question from the Deseret News during a question and answer period following prepared remarks.

According to an April estimate from the Department of Homeland Security, there are about 11 million unauthorized migrants living in the U.S. currently, with the majority of them (79%) having been in the country since before 2010. Although the report contains numbers through 2022, before the historic amount of border crossings in the last two years.

Data published last month by the Pew Research Center found that of the 22 million people in households with an unauthorized immigrant, 11 million are U.S. born or lawful immigrants.

Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center said that such a policy would "touch every single American."

"We're talking about broken communities, families being separated, racial profiling, the trampling of our Constitution, an economic impact -- not to mention the diplomatic and the logistical challenges that this agenda will have on our nation," Matos told ABC News earlier this year.