AFP :
Donald Trump’s appointment of hard-liners to key immigration posts signals a determination to fulfill campaign pledges of mass deportations and border crackdowns, but it will be an uphill battle, analysts say.
Illegal immigration was a key issue for voters in the US election, and Trump’s promises to seal the border and carry out the largest deportation program in American history appeared to resonate at the ballot box.
Actually implementing campaign promises, however, could prove tricky, immigration experts say.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said that with around 13-15 million undocumented migrants in the country — not over 20 million as Trump often says — mass deportation is “not realistic.”