President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to ramp up immigration enforcement on taking office and to launch a mass deportation operation that could affect a record numbers of migrants.

The US Department of Homeland Security estimated there were 11 million immigrants lacking a legal status in 2022.

Trump wants to remove a million undocumented people a year, according to Vice President-elect JD Vance – and would begin his clampdown almost immediately upon taking office.

Yet while the Republican president-elect has said his ambitions are unprecedented in scope, he must still follow a specific process, as outlined in US law.

Moreover, the president cannot make any new laws – beyond the powers specifically given to him by the Constitution or Congress – by simply

Deportation entails the

The United States typically enforces it on those who entered the country illegally, violated its laws, overstayed a visa or are deemed a threat to public safety.

Most deportations are for rather than criminal violations.

Deportation figures have fluctuated significantly over the years, exceeding 100,000 a year in the mid-1990s and mostly rising ever since.

Trump deported some 1.5 million people in his first term of 2017 to 2021, a figure nearly matched under outgoing – including a record in fiscal year 2024.

Anyone facing...