No undocumented immigrants living in the US will get a “free pass” under new President Donald Trump, according to his immigration advisor, Kris Kobach. Kobach says that many such immigrants will likely leave the country of their own accord when benefits and jobs begin to dry up under the new administration.
Kobach made the comments on Fox News, responding to a question about Trump’s attitude toward undocumented immigrants with no criminal records. Neither welfare or healthcare can currently be claimed by undocumented immigrants. Questions have been raised about the lengths officials may be willing to go to remove any other benefits of living illegally in the US for undocumented immigrants. Families with mixed status members, such as those with children who have legal status but parents who do not, could face particular difficulties under such plans.
2012 Republican Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney had also floated the idea of “self-deportation” by making the lives of immigrants difficult enough that they would return to their home countries willingly, but he lost the election to the incumbent, President Barack Obama.
Kevin McCarthy, the House Majority Leader, says that work has already started on legislation about the wall Trump pledged to build on the border between the US and Mexico and that the House of Representatives may well try to advance it even before Trump becomes President in January. The number of undocumented immigrants is said to be around 11.1 million and has stayed much the same since 2009.