Where did all our neighbors go, long time passing, where did all our neighbors go, long time ago, where are all neighbors now, still in prison every one, when will they ever learn…

Thank you Peter, Paul, and Mary

Those who did not believe that Donald Trump really intended mass arrests and deportations were proven wrong when he signed an executive order directing just that shortly after his inauguration yesterday. And now, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Border Patrol, the Immigration Courts, and state and local police departments are gearing up to follow his orders.

There is no question that the Supreme Court will uphold his authority. Persons unlawfully in the United States are not entitled to remain in the United States. Persons unlawfully in the United States can be taken into and kept in detention facilities until they are removed to their home nations. However, this process will be delayed significantly by lawsuits in federal court seeking due process protections for these persons. For some, this litigation could take years.

Which is exactly what the Trump Administration wants.

While the logistics of locating, arresting, and housing hundreds of thousands and eventually millions of aliens unlawfully in the United States will require Congress to appropriate close to $100 billion, is there any doubt that the Republican-controlled Congress will give this money to the President? While housing so many people will require a massive effort by the prison industrial complex to repurpose existing facilities and build many more, the major builders of private prisons already have plans in place to build these facilities and are just waiting to ink the deals.

Persons unlawfully in the United States will soon learn this harsh reality if they don’t already know.

They will learn that once in custody, they could face years waiting to be removed.

Which will cause many—if not most—to agree to depart from the United States voluntarily.

This is what the Trump Administration counts on—persons unlawfully in the United States doing the heavy lifting.

But what if Mexico and the Central American nations, where most of these people come from, refuse to take this great number of people back?

What then?