Since I just made a big deal about how big the problem is, I'll offer a solution that's at least conceptually valid:
First, set a budget of $40,000 per person for the program or around half a trillion total. We're going to spend that much, regardless.
1) Start cutting benefits here to "bare minimum for survival," then cut them further by 2% each month. BUT they can get paid to return home.
2) To return home, they first biometrically register on the US side.
3) When they arrive in their country of origin, they verify their presence biometrically. Once this happens, they get a one-time payout of $20,000 and their government gets $15,000. We spend $5,000 each on processing and transport.
4) If they illegally return to the US, they face the death penalty. Since we already have their biometric data, this is easy to verify and no court proceedings are necessary.
5) If they stay in the US illegally, they face the death penalty when they're caught.
6) For the ones that can prove they've been working continuously and paying taxes, consider a guest worker status for them. There are plenty that are doing low-skill work, it's true that there will be a problem if they all suddenly leave, and I have no problem with immigrants who work.
7) This crisis has been one of the most purely-partisan issues this nation has ever faced, so it's perfectly fair to make one party pay for it. Add up the costs on an annual basis and confiscate the wealth of Democrats to cover it, proportionate to their net worth so that the rich pay their fair share.
Is this legal or Constitutional?
Who cares?
It's not like the left respects the Constitution anyways, so let them choke on it.
UPDATE: Why would this work logistically vs. forced deportation? Simple. With this strategy you can bus them back, which is how virtually all of them got here in the first place. It's far easier to transport someone willingly via bus across several international borders when the countries being transited have reasonable assurance (because of the cash at the end) that the people won't stop in their countries. It's massively more difficult to transport them as prisoners.
Don’t worry!
His “very smart people” are totally right about things this time when it comes to trade.
There is zero - I repeat, zero - moral difference between the people who pushed for "experimenting" with lockdowns because "we have to do something!" and the people who push for "experimenting" with trade wars because "we have to do something!"
Musk is out.
Musk put himself in a corner where he can't rip into Trump and he has to play nice probably at least through the midterms, but just look at the guy's face and watch him refuse to give a straight answer here. He put a lot on the line with endorsing Trump and starting DOGE, and Trump absolutely stabbed him in the back. Trump's supporters will blame congress, but Trump has very openly and loudly endorsed all of the DOGE-defying moves that congress has made, and has viciously attacked the one congressman (Thomas Massie) who has stood against it.
The reason is simple: Trump cares about trophies. Cutting the budget is not a trophy. DOGE trying to take a chainsaw to government was a trophy, but as soon as DOGE became more of Musk's than Trump's trophy, Trump stopped caring about it because congress offered him a Big, Beautiful Bill as a trophy instead. Just like the FBI offered the opportunity to build a Big, Beautiful new headquarters building for them (Trump loves buildings!). ...
As comedy slowly slides into unfunny wokeness hell, the last comedian standing (assuming he doesn't drop dead first, I mean just look at the guy; he's a trainwreck) will be Doug Stanhope. He closed out his recent special "The Dying of the Last Breed" with this bit on how important it is that we be able to make fun of anything. Because making fun.
Language warning, duh.
Preliminary Q2 numbers for Argentina are in. This is still subject to adjustment but so far their preliminaries have been pretty accurate under the Milei administration.
Slashing spending works. Trump and Bessent are very optimistically projecting economic growth of 3% doing the opposite of what Milei is doing to deliver 7.6% - and climbing!
