When the government wants to deport someone, it has to go through a legal process called removal proceedings. This is a series of steps overseen by an immigration judge that can – and often does – result in the noncitizen being ordered to leave the United States forever, even if they have family here. It is very important for a person facing deportation to get a good, caring immigration attorney to help them.
Most removal proceedings start when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests a removable noncitizen. ICE agents can make these arrests in the field or at homes, workplaces and other places, such as near schools. Once an individual is in custody, ICE decides whether to pursue removal proceedings against them or whether to release them from custody on bond or their own recognizance.
If a person is arrested, they are sent a notice to appear in removal proceedings, which must be served in person. This document, which is sometimes referred to as a master calendar hearing, sets out the legal reasons for their removal from the country. Generally, people who want to contest the basis for their removal can declare this at the master hearing and the court will then schedule their first hearing date.
At the first hearing, known as an individual hearing, the immigration judge verifies the facts set out in the NTA and assesses the noncitizen’s eligibility for relief from removal. This is a mini-trial and the noncitizen can present evidence, have witnesses testify on their behalf and argue that they should be allowed to stay in the United States.
After the hearing, the judge decides whether to order the noncitizen’s removal or to grant relief from removal. If the judge orders removal, the noncitizen can still appeal this decision to a higher court, and it may also be possible to challenge the deportation order in federal district court or on the Supreme Court.
In the past, the federal government has confined its deportation efforts to criminals and those who entered the country illegally or overstayed their visas. However, expanding these operations to a wider group of unauthorized immigrants could be incredibly costly to the nation and create profound suffering for millions of families, including U.S. citizen children, who would be uprooted from their communities and separated from the only country they have ever known.
The short-term costs of a deportation campaign are hard to calculate, but the long-term cost of removing 13.3 million people from the country would be immense. American businesses would struggle to fill the jobs left by these workers, and prices on goods and services would rise. Inflation, which is already occurring at a faster pace than the economy can grow, would further strain households and public finances.
It is impossible to model the exact cost of a deportation operation of this scale, because it would depend on how many of these individuals were placed in removal proceedings and how much time and capital would be invested in building a vast network of new immigration courts, detention centers and other facilities. It would also depend on how many of these individuals are granted relief from removal or are ordered to depart voluntarily – the latter option can be particularly difficult for immigrants who have deep roots in their communities and families here.