TOLEDO, Ohio —
Throughout the presidential campaign, immigration has been a hot-button topic, and a promise President-elect Donald Trump has been making throughout his campaign could become a reality.
"On day one I will launch the largest deportation program of criminals in American history," President-elect Trump said at a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina on Nov. 2.
The latest data from the Pew Research Center estimates there are 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States.
Baldemar Velasquez, the president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, said there could be close to 15,000 undocumented immigrants in Toledo.
President-elect Trump has not rolled out a detailed plan for how these deportations would happen, but CBS News reports he could start with undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes and those who pose a national security threat.
President-elect Trump has proposed ending birthright citizenship, which would require a constitutional change. According to CBS News, polls show more support from the general public for these plans.
Velasquez said these deportations would drastically impact the workforce.
"They're working in low-wage jobs that most Americans don't want," Velasquez said. "Employers are going to be hard-pressed, particularly in agriculture."
Velasquez said the United States could have to import more food from Mexico because of trade agreements and that food prices could increase.
Velasquez said undocumented immigrants also impact urban restaurants and retail operations.
"Apart from that, you've got many families that've got children born in the United States, or American citizens," Velasquez said. "Are you going to deport them too, or are you going to split up families? Divide them?"
Velasquez said the resources necessary to accomplish deportations may not be feasible.
"The logistics are just incredible," he said. "You'd have to mobilize the U.S. military or the National Guard to do that."
Research from the American Immigration Council estimates that to deport one million undocumented immigrants per year would cost more than $88 billion annually.
Immigration attorney Emmanuel Olawale said he has been receiving more calls from people worried about deportations, but he said the process would take a long time as things need to go through the court system – a system he said is currently overloaded.
"Most cases are scheduled three, four years out," Olawale said. "So what will happen is it will overburden the court. The only way they will be able to do this as promised is if they build more courts."
The Executive Office for Immigration Review would need to hire 181 immigration judges per year to fully process 10.6 million cases within 11 years, according to the American Immigration Council.