Trump Proposes Deporting Mixed-Status Families Together To Avoid Separation

President-elect Donald Trump has suggested that families with mixed immigration status, which included U.S. citizen children who chose to stay with their undocumented parents, should be deported together to avoid separating them.

During an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" with Kristen Welker, Trump said, "I don't want to be breaking up families, so the only way you don't break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back," Axios reported.

When asked about the impact of his approach on children, who were legally in the country but have undocumented parents, Trump explained that if they wanted to remain with their parents, they would need to leave as a family.

"Well, what you've got to do if they want to stay with their father — look, we have to have rules and regulations," he said.

He acknowledged the need to address their situation and indicated plans to collaborate with Democrats on a solution. Trump noted that many Dreamers, now adults, have become successful and are viewed positively by Republicans.

Dreamers refer to children brought to the U.S. and were granted protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

However, he also took a strict stance on birthright citizenship, reiterating his intention to end it on his first day in office.

While he called the policy "ridiculous," he did not explain how he would bypass the 14th Amendment. His claim that the U.S. was the only country with birthright citizenship was inaccurate, as countries like Canada, Brazil, and many others also provided it.

According to the Center for Migration Studies, around 4.7 million households in the U.S. were considered "mixed-status," which meant they included at least one undocumented person and at least one citizen or legal resident.

The center also reported that 48% of the 2.8 million households with at least one undocumented person have a minimum of one child who was born in the U.S.

During his first term, Trump implemented a family separation policy at the border, which led to nearly 4,000 children being separated from their parents. The policy faced widespread criticism and raised serious humanitarian concerns.

Meanwhile, as part of the incoming Trump administration's mass deportation plans, federal immigration authorities were reportedly searching for a location in Northern California to set up a new detention center.