Trump promises mass deportations, day-one pardons for Jan 6 rioters

US president-elect Donald Trump said he plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, impose tariffs on foreign countries that do business with the US, and pardon some of the people convicted in the Jan 6, 2021, Capitol intrusion.

Trump said this in an interview with Kristen Welker on NBC News’ “Meet the Press”, according to United Press International (UPI).

Trump also said he would work to extend tax cuts passed during his first administration, keep the age cap of Medicare or Medicaid, and seek ways to cut federal spending.

Further, he said he would not impose restrictions on abortion pills and continues to want abortion policies determined by individual states.

In addition to the deportation efforts, he will also try to end birthright citizenship, which is spelt out in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. It reported Trump wants to strip rights from those born in the country to undocumented parents.

Regarding deportations, Trump said “We’re starting with the criminals, and we got to do it. And then we’re starting with others, and we’re going to see how it goes.”

There are an estimated 4 million families in America who have mixed immigration status.

“I don’t want to be breaking up families. So the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back.”

Trump said he wants to work with Democrats to ensure “Dreamers”, who are undocumented immigrants who entered the US as children nearly 20 or more years ago - would be able to stay in the country.

“We have to do something about the Dreamers, because these are people that have been brought here at a very young age, and many of these are middle-aged people now, they don’t even speak the language of their country,” Trump said.

Legislation to protect Dreamers was not approved during Trump’s first term as president. Their rights are covered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme which allowed them to remain in the country and work legally.

Meanwhile, Trump said pardons for Jan 6 rioters will happen on his first day resuming office as president, as he argued that many have endured overly harsh treatment in prison.

“These people are living in hell,” Trump said during the interview.

Of the 1,572 charged in relation to the Jan 6 riots, 1,251 have either been convicted or pleaded guilty. At least 645 of the latter have been imprisoned between a few days and 22 years.

He also claimed that members of the Jan 6 House committee “committed a major crime” by destroying evidence, which committee members denied.

“Honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump said about the committee members. However, he added that he would not direct his appointees to arrest them.

Regarding the consequences of tariffs, Trump said he could not assure US consumers that they won’t pay more for some products under the new rules should they be imposed.

“I can’t guarantee anything,” Trump said. “I can’t guarantee tomorrow.”

Trump also said that Ukraine should “possibly, probably” expect less aid in its fight against Russia and he is trying to negotiate the end of the war with Moscow.

Meanwhile, the president-elect said he will not raise the age of eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid recipients, and said those programmes will also be protected from sweeping cuts promised by Elon Musk, whom Trump has appointed to head a newly created Department of Government Efficiency, with another billionaire, Vivek Ramaswamy.

“I won’t do it,” Trump said.

Musk has said the department could cut as much as a third of the national budget, or more than US$2 trillion, though he has been short on specifics.

Analysts have said cutting that much of the US spending plan in short order is next to impossible while keeping the country's vital services intact and the nation running, even if the department only takes aim at so-called “discretionary spending”.

Trump has claimed that his sweeping Nov 5 victory is a mandate. He won by about 2 million votes of 152 million cast though his Electoral College margin was 312-226 against Vice-President Kamala Harris.

He said he has broad support from not only the American people but also from corporate titans like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, whom Trump claims to be having dinner with.

“People like me now, you know?” he said in the interview. 

“It’s different than the first - you know, when I won the first time, I wasn’t nearly as popular as this. And one thing that's very important, in terms of the election, I love that I won the popular vote, and by a lot.”

While sounding harsh on the campaign trail, Trump said in the interview that he plans to “move forward”, and does not, for instance, plan to appoint a special counsel to investigate President Joe Biden.

He said he does not have plans to use the legal system to punish his political or personal adversaries either.

- Bernama

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