Proposals to deport 100 million people—ideas pushed by elements of the Trump administration and other far-right figures—represent a blatant attempt to bring “ethnic cleansing” to America, a top immigration expert warns.
Back in December, Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security posted an image on X with the words “America After 100 Million Deportations” superimposed over a nostalgic beach scene.
The DHS social media post described that serene imagery as “the peace of a nation no longer besieged by the third world.”
“That is explicitly targeting people based on their ancestry—and, of course, it’s about people’s background,” David J. Bier, director of immigration studies for the libertarian Cato Institute, told me in the attached interview.
“They’re telling us explicitly what their agenda is, and it is an agenda targeting not just … immigrants here or illegal immigrants even. It’s about targeting Americans based on their background.
“And that’s ethnic cleansing. That’s the definition of ethnic cleansing.”
No one has ever claimed that there are anywhere close to 100 million illegal immigrants in the United States.
Targeting 100 million people for deportation would, by definition, require going after longstanding American citizens, Bier added.
Last month, during a hearing before the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy blasted Bier for his references to “ethnic cleansing” on social media, accusing him of being “hyperbolic.”
That viral moment, Bier told me, suggests Americans are simply unaware of what immigration policies are being enacted in their names.
“It seems like a very significant portion of the population—and even members of Congress—are simply unaware of what the administration is doing, what policies it’s enacting, what rhetoric it is putting out to the public, how it is justifying its policies,” he added.
In fact, Greg Bovino, who spearheaded Trump’s deportation efforts for months, recently confirmed to the New York Times that he indeed had a plan to deport 100 million people.
‘Make America look like America again’
More recently, Tennessee GOP Congressman Andy Ogles has called for repeal the 1965 Hart-Celler Act, which got rid of racial quotas that were put into place in 1924 in order to favor White people from Western and Northern Europe.
Ogles has celebrated his A+ “remigration score” from a group with white nationalist ties. White nationalists around the world have praised his plans.
Ogles says his goal is to “make America look like America again.”
“So again, you’re advocating for the policy that kept the Jews in Europe to be killed, that excluded non-White immigration overwhelmingly,” Bier said.
“The reality is you are making a claim about what it means to be an American. And what it means to be American has nothing to do with race.”
He continued, “It doesn’t have anything to do with where your parents were born. It has nothing to do with your ancestry even. It’s a view incompatible with that of the founders, which of course believed that anyone could come here and be an American regardless of their background.”
In this interview, Bier offers a thoughtful perspective that challenges conventional narratives and argues for reform rooted in facts:
He underscores the significant economic benefits immigrants bring to the U.S., including a $14.5 trillion contribution to deficit reduction over the past 30 years.
Bier discusses the racist origins of past immigration laws, such as the Immigration Act of 1924, and warns against reverting to such discriminatory policies.
And he refutes the narrative that immigrants increase crime rates, presenting data that shows immigrants are less likely to commit crimes and often contribute to safer communities.
To read the detailed analyses by Bier and his Cato colleagues, click here.
