For the first Brooks and Capehart segment of Donald Trump 2.0 on Friday’s PBS NewsHour, Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart alleged that “the Laken Riley Act and other things” are instilling fear in immigrant families, even those who are not “undocumented.”
Host Geoff Bennett began by asking the duo what they thought of Trump’s first week. New York Times columnist David Brooks declared it to be a mixed bag. On one hand, he was excited about Trump reforming National Environmental Policy Act, which he argued will make it easier to build homes and address high housing prices. On the other, “On immigration, I obviously don't approve. He's doing what he said. And I understand why people who are undocumented in this country, the 13 to 15 million are scared, terrified out of their minds. I totally understand that.”
However, Brooks also claimed that, practically speaking, Trump will find it hard to carry out his promise of mass deportations, “But it should be said that the way politicians talk about immigration and the way policy experts talk about it is totally different. They can talk about mass deportation. But we have, like, 750 immigration judges for a country of 330 million. Some of these judges have backlogs of, like, six years, eight years.”
Finally, he added, “Who's going to pick up people? The military, the National Guard, they don't want to do this. They have a recruiting crisis already. So, the changes that are going to come on the immigration front are going to be a lot slower and more drawn out than a lot of people may think.”
That did little to comfort Capehart, who lamented, “Although, I mean, on the campaign trail, he said, we're going to go after violent undocumented immigrants, or, as he says, illegal aliens. But between the Laken Riley Act and other things, the definition of who they're going after has broadened to the point where, yeah, immigrant families, families where some are documented and some are undocumented, yes, the terror in those families is real.”
The Laken Riley Act simply requires that any illegal immigrant who commits theft or violence against another person be placed in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security. What’s so terrorizing about that?
Here is a transcript for the January 24 show:
PBS News Hour
1/24/2025
7:40 PM ET
DAVID BROOKS: On immigration, I obviously don't approve. He's doing what he said. And I understand why people who are undocumented in this country, the 13 to 15 million are scared, terrified out of their minds. I totally understand that.
But it should be said that the way politicians talk about immigration and the way policy experts talk about it is totally different. They can talk about mass deportation. But we have, like, 750 immigration judges for a country of 330 million. Some of these judges have backlogs of, like, six years, eight years.
Who's going to pick up people? The military, the National Guard, they don't want to do this. They have a recruiting crisis already. So, the changes that are going to come on the immigration front are going to be a lot slower and more drawn out than a lot of people may think.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Although, I mean, on the campaign trail, he said, we're going to go after violent undocumented immigrants, or, as he says, illegal aliens.
But between the Laken Riley Act and other things, the definition of who they're going after has broadened to the point where, yeah, immigrant families, families where some are documented and some are undocumented, yes, the terror in those families is real.
