Stapilus We don’t know all of what the Trump Administration may do in the coming year, since many of the ideas floated have faded in and out and some have been contradicted here and there. But if there’s any through line, a single planned action that the president-elect and his people emphatically and consistently have promised, it is this: He will, immediately on taking office, declare a national emergency with the intent promptly to start mass deportation of people who are not in the country legally. And maybe some of those who are here legally, too: Children born in the United States — and therefore citizens — to undocumented parents, could be swept up as well.
Not to mention, in the case of a really large action, some people who just look (to someone) as if they might not be from around here. The impact of that on the people at risk of deportation obviously is large. Less reported, though it’s getting growing attention, is the effect on everyone else who will be staying here.
In a sense, the number of “unauthorized” people in Idaho specifically is not massively large: About 40,000, or about 2% of the state’s population, and about a third of all immigrants in the state. The total number for the United States is around 11 million. (If you’ve been hearing 20 million or more, you’ve been hearing nonsense.
) They do make up about 4% of all public school students, though. Nationally, this group makes up about 4.5% of all workers, but that varies a lot by loca.
