Donald Trump's immigration plan has been pulverized by everybody — on both sides of the aisle — except the millions of Americans who made him the GOP presumptive nominee, but what do the experts think?
On brass tacks issues — cost, ability, time — experts from all sides have grave doubts about Trump's ability to pull off the core piece of his campaign.
Arguably the two biggest practical challenges to Trump's immigration plan are the wall, and deportation.
Trump's requirements for the wall: 1,000 miles long, built from precast concrete and steel, 50-feet tall, make Mexico pay for it. Cost: Roughly $10 billion.
Todd Sternfeld, chief executive of Superior Concrete, told
The New York Times the cost would be at least $26 billion.
"There's a lot of logistics involved in this, and I don't know how thoroughly they've thought it out," Sternfeld told the Times, and added you would need temporary housing for about 1,000 workers.
"The resources alone would be astronomical," Sternfeld told the Times.
Then there is the mass deportation of 11 million undocumented immigrants already living in the United States. By contrast, deportations have recently peaked at 400,000 per year, according to the Times.
"I can't even begin to picture how we would deport 11 million people in a few years where we don't have a police state, where the police can't break down your door at will and take you away without a warrant," Michael Chertoff, former secretary of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush told the Times.
Trump's plan would triple the amount of ICE agents to 15,000, which will be funded by eliminating tax credit payments to illegal immigrants, according to
Trump's website.
But experts said that number would still be insufficient, that the FBI and other agencies would need to help.
The American Action Forum, a center-right think tank, found that removing all 11 million undocumented workers and preventing all future entry would cost between $400 million and $600 million, and reduce Gross Domestic Product by over $1 trillion, according to its website.
"It's an unrealistic plan," Chertoff said.
"Unless you suspend the Constitution and instruct the police to behave as if we live in North Korea," Chertoff told the Times, "it ain't happening."
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