Opinion: Gillibrand is ignoring the threat of mass deportation

On Nov. 19, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand appeared on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show and was asked about President-elect Donald Trump’s plan for mass deportations of immigrants. The previous day, The New York Times had reported on Trump’s intention “to declare a national emergency and use the U.S. military in some form to assist in his plans for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.” 

Gillibrand’s response, which you can listen to here (starting at 33:00), was disturbing in its apparent disconnect from the current and impending immigrant crisis.

Gillibrand began her answer with formulaic comments on the need for “comprehensive immigration reform,” as if she had missed the last few years of Washington, D.C., legislative sessions.

The senator then calmly made her own lower-key anti-immigrant comments, saying that New Yorkers are “stressed out” because “they don't want to see people waiting around on street corners, and they don't want to see people who aren't working and (aren't) integrated in part of the community.” Presumably she was referring to people looking for jobs or shelter.

Asked about New York City Mayor Eric Adams' comments on the subject, Gillibrand assured listeners that she has “faith that Mayor Adams will not participate in the mass deportation force” despite his “divisive” rhetoric. But Adams's rhetoric – particularly his claim that the migrant crisis "will destroy New York City" – is a form of participation already.

The essence of Gillibrand's comments, when she finally got around to it, was simply to dismiss the mass deportation plan as “absurd” and not “wise.” She said that it “can't be implemented” and that “it would be deeply worrying if President Trump tried” to do so.

If Trump tries to do so?

Astonishingly, even as immigrants and immigrant rights groups plan for the worst, Gillibrand speaks as if Trump has not been reelected, much less laid out detailed plans for mass deportations. He has appointed Thomas Homan, who openly applies the term "criminal" to non-criminals, as his "border czar," and he has named Stephen Miller, who is "credited" with family separation in Trump's first term, as deputy chief of staff. He has made these appointments for a reason.

We don't know how far the plan will be realized, but hundreds of thousands, and probably millions, of human beings will be deported or “removed.” They will be detained in isolated locations, and in detention many will be abused – physically, sexually and psychologically. (Private prison and detention stocks are "sharply higher" for a reason.) Families will be broken apart. Lives and communities will be damaged and destroyed.

Gillibrand's generic pro-immigrant comments toward the end of the interview indicate that she continues to support some version of “immigration reform,” but her comments overall tell New Yorkers – and the incoming administration – that she is dangerously out of touch with the careful, cruel, and destructive plans already in place.

In 2022, according to the Center for Migration Studies, there were 672,165 “undocumented” persons living in New York State. More than half of them had been in the United States for ten years or more. And of course there are the so-called “mixed status” families: FWD.us estimates that at the start of 2025 there will be approximately 300,000 U.S. citizen children and 450,000 U.S. citizen adults living in households with at least one "undocumented" person in New York state.

Whatever the numbers, these are all individuals. Gillibrand needs to open her eyes to the real threats each one of them faces. And she must act accordingly.