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Donald J. Trump won the White House in part based on his castigation of undocumented immigrants. With his inauguration Friday, and with hisfirst executive actions expected as soon as Fridayafternoon,some of those words are about to become deeds. Judging from the early details offered by his transition team, there is much here to be worried about. And internal contradictions among some of the emerging details suggest the incoming administration has not spent sufficient time thinking through itsapproach to illegal immigrationand the fresh problems itssolutions will likely create.

For instance, Trump has said he wants to work something out to help the so-called Dreamers, undocumented immigrants who were brought here as minors. But one of the first things hes expected to do is cancel President Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, under which 750,000 of themreceived two-year reprieves from deportation and permission to work. Canceling DACA would exposehundreds of thousands of those young peopleto deportation and denythem the work permits they may need to survive here.

Trump also is expected to resume work-site raids and jail visits by immigration agentsto find the undocumented immigrants,but that would take a significant increase in manpower as well as facilities in which to hold the detainees, most of whom would have the right to a hearing before they are kicked out of the country.With only 40,000 beds budgeted for, how will the administration handle the logistics especially when Trump has also pledged to roundup the estimated 800,000 people against whom deportation orders have already been issued?

And then theres the wall. The Trump administration may try to use existing funds already budgeted for Border Patrol infrastructure to start construction of the wall on the Mexican border, hoping to recoup the costs later from Mexico. Estimates put the cost of the wall as high as $38 billion, but like so much else Trump has talked about, the lack of specifics makes estimates iffy. And if Mexico refuses to pay, as its top officials have said repeatedly they will do, Trump says hell get the money through a tax on remittances sent bypeople livinghere to theirfamilies back in Mexico. But those remittances total onlyabout $24 billion a year, andabout half of itcomes from the very people Trump says hell be kicking out.

This is foolishness. If Trump really tries to fulfillhis promise to deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., itwould cause significant harm to families and communities, drive those here illegally further underground (goodbye, traceable remittances)and probably harmthe sectors of the economy, such as construction and agriculture, in which the undocumented work. The only reasonable path forward is for Trump to work with Congress on comprehensive immigration reform that deals with the presence of undocumented immigrants including a path to legalization for those who deserve it.

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Despite promising to crack down on the undocumented, Trump clearly hasn't thought through his immigration plans - Los Angeles Times