Trump says he would resort to local police for mass deportations and give them 'immunity'

Former President and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump again vowed to conduct mass deportations if elected in the November elections, this time shedding some light on the way he would do so.

In an interview in the context of the Libertarian National Convention, Trump said that he would resort to local police to do so, and he intends to give them "immunity" against potential legal challenges that may ensue as a result.

"It will really be done with local police. People need law and order. You can't have 500 people walking into a department store and just walking out with everything they have. We need honor and respect back and I believe in immunity because so often when a police person does their job they end up with no pension, no house. We're going to give them back their dignity and their strength," he told Libertarian commentator Tim Pool.

Trump also said in an April interview that he would use the National Guard "as he sees fit" throughout American cities to deport immigrants if he's reelected. "If I thought things were getting out of control, I would have no problem using the military," he said in an interview with Time magazine.

In another passage of the interview, Trump used some of his go-to rhetoric to justify his willingness to conduct mass deportations, saying that "millions and millions of people coming into our country is not necessarily what we want or had in mind."

"They have open borders and many of the people coming in are coming from prisons, many are frankly murderers and drug dealers, they come from mental institutions and from places that are not going to work very well. It's not going to be very good for our country, we have to get them out. No country can sustain what we're going through," he added.

Trump has had words of the kind regarding immigrants and immigration enforcement in practically all of his public appearances, also saying recently that that people arriving in the U.S. are "building an army" to attack Americans "from within."

Speaking at Crotona Park in South Bronx, a neighborhood comprised almost entirely of Latino and Black people, he said that most of those arriving between ports of entry at the southern border are "male and they look like fighting age."

Last week he also said in an interview that unlawful immigrants are "coming in with very contagious diseases." "All of a sudden you see there's a run on tuberculosis, things that we haven't talked about for years in this country." He has also said that immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country" and described them as "vermin."

Data from the Migration Policy Institute estimates roughly 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants lived in the U.S. in 2021, up from 11 million in 2019.

However, such a deportation operation could have unintended consequences for Trump, as economists worry that such projects could bring a massive blow to the U.S. job market.

As a response to Trump's plan on immigration, many economists and business leaders warn that this scenario could trigger higher unemployment and slower growth— while also devastating the country's immigrant workforce, according to The Washington Post. These proposals could also exacerbate inflation.