1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

Please oppose incoming President Trump’s plans for mass deportations of immigrants. His plans go too far — there’s no reason to be targeting people with Temporary Protected Status — and are wastefully expensive. The American Immigration Council estimates that Trump’s deportation plans will cost $88 billion a year, with no guarantee that other countries will be willing to take the people we deport. Instead of scapegoating immigrants for our problems, we could use that money to invest in the American people, build homes, and shore up our failing public health infrastructure. Instead, Trump wants to spend huge amounts of money on actions that will likely cause labor shortages in industries like agriculture, food processing and construction, leading to higher prices for all. Finally, please remember that all migrants are humans who should be treated with respect — they should not be denied their inherent human dignity. Deportations will cause needless pain and suffering in families where some members are documented and some are not. I worry we will see the return to truly shameful practices that we saw under the first Trump administration, particularly keeping migrant children in cages. We don’t have the facilities to hold the number of detainees that Trump wants to round up, and I shudder to think what corners will be cut this time around to meet Trump’s unnecessary and unreasonable goals.