Texas senators, law enforcement downplay Trumps promise of mass deportation [Video]

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — As former President Donald Trump proposes “the largest deportation program in American history,” targeting millions of people in the United States unlawfully, Texas’ senators and local law enforcement are tempering that ambitious rhetoric with caveats for practicality and prioritization.

“It’s not going to happen. It’s just not. It’s going to be an empty campaign promise, to be honest with you,” Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland, a vocal Trump ally, told Nexstar. “There’s not enough federal agencies in the United States, whether it’s Border Patrol (or) Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to go out and simply find the people that are here illegally. Secondly, the amount of expense that will take. It will take a lot of monetary expense to be able to incarcerate the people and then get them returned back to their country.”

Cleveland said he has seen an influx of about 1,800 migrant encounters over the …