Trump’s rhetoric focuses on mass roundups as a spectacle of fear, but the criminal legal system remains the primary tool for carrying out deportations. The new administration has already stated its intention to expand 287 (g), agreements that deputize local police as immigration enforcers.

Tom Homan, Trump's border czar, has described what the operation might look like and who could be involved in immigration enforcement.

Immigrants and advocacy groups nationwide are scrambling to prepare for the waves of raids President Trump has promised under his plan to deport millions of people unauthorized to stay in the U.S. Why it matters: Confusion and persistent rumors about how the raids will be carried out — and what will happen to those detained by immigration agents — are leading some anxious immigrants to refuse to go to work or send their children to schools,