A Scripps News/IPSOS poll finds more than half of respondents support a mass deportation of undocumented migrants.
However, experts say it would take a herculean effort to carry out the Trump campaign promise that may be hindered by current immigration law.
Trump told Time Magazine that he would use local law enforcement and possibly the National Guard to carry out his plan to mass deport millions of undocumented residents. He added that it was also possible that migrant detention camps would be built.
"Legally, I think Trump would face quite a few challenges to his actions if this is done by executive order," said Tony Payan, director of the Rice University Center f the U.S. and Mexico, which is part of the non-partisan Baker Institute.
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Migration experts like Payan say not only would such an effort be difficult to do under current migration law, but the actual process of expelling millions of people would be too.
"Logistically it would be quite difficult to mobilize forces at the local, state and federal level to try and find these people all over the country in many different places, cities, neighborhoods, small towns, hunt them down detain them and have them deported," Payan said. "That logistically would be a nightmare."
Trump advisor Stephen Miller has said a second Trump administration would focus on two goals: "seal the border" and "deport all illegals."
The Associated Press reports that the plan includes flying people without legal status out of the country before they could make legal appeals.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request from Scripps News for comment on mass deportations, but his former immigration and customs enforcement director Tomas Homan told Fox Digital: "People say, 'How are you going to remove millions?' The answer is: One at a time."
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The Republican Party's platform includes what it described as the largest such effort in American history. And while it might be a difficult task, mass deportation does have its backers.
A new Scripps News/IPSOS poll shows 54% of respondents say they strongly or somewhat support the policy. But some critics warn that such an expulsion could adversely affect the economy.
"There are almost 11 million workers in the United States undocumented specifically and those are scattered throughout the country," said Payan. "They certainly are working. Most of them are actually employed formally or informally and they contribute to the economy and they pay taxes. So I think extracting what is about 6% of the overall workforce in the United States would certainly diminish the U.S. economy."
It would also require a massive infrastructure to make it work.
"Think of it this way — in the United States there are about two million prisoners in the prison system," Payan added. "Do you have the system to detain and hold 11 million people? It's impossible."
