California, the state that would be most affected by a mass deportations

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While the answer to that question is not yet clear, few places in the country are likely to be as deeply impacted by mass deportations as California, where by some estimates, there are more undocumented immigrants than in any other state. In 2021, nearly 6 million people in California were undocumented or lived in a household with an undocumented family member.

Southern California, in particular, has a high undocumented population. In 2021, nearly 3 million residents across all Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties were undocumented or lived in a household with an undocumented family member, with 1.9 million residing in Los Angeles, according to the California Immigrant Data Portal.

Trump has proposed “to carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history,” focusing exclusively on individuals who are in the country illegally, with a priority on deporting those with criminal records. The president-elect has already appointed hardline individuals with strict views on immigration to key positions within his administration.

He has called for utilizing the National Guard and local law enforcement to assist in this effort, though specific details on how such an operation would be carried out — or even funded — have not been provided.

Against this backdrop, Trump’s immigration agenda — or at least, early plans and speculation — has renewed debates about the fate of undocumented immigrants in California.
But what might happen in terms of immigration under another Trump presidency is still very much up in the air.

“We don’t know exactly what will happen. No one knows what’s going to happen. I don’t think the coming administration even knows what’s going to happen,” said Hiroshi Motomura, a UCLA law professor who specializes in immigration law.

Mass Deportation: More details of Trump’s plan revealed