Professor Johnson Talks to Capital & Main About Trump's Mass Deportation Plans

Professor Kevin R. Johnson spoke to the nonprofit publication Capital & Main for a Feb. 3 story discussing the history of mass deportations from the United States and what President Donald Trump’s promised mass removals would require to be enforced.

Capital & Main reported that the Trump administration was “expected to lean into a program known as 287(g) that allows ICE to deputize local law enforcement to do immigration work.” Some cities and states, including California, already forbid local participation in that program, the publication noted.

Johnson told Capital & Main that he worried about local law enforcement becoming involved in the mass deportation effort because of what happened in the 1930s “repatriation,” when local authorities rounded up people believed to be Mexican, including U.S. citizens, and and sent them south.

“We have rules and laws regulating removals from the country, but if we start down the path of mass arrests and quick-and-dirty deportations, then those rules are not likely to be followed,” Johnson said.

Kevin R. Johnson is a distinguished professor of law, Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law, and Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law. Johnson also has an appointment as professor of Chicana/o studies at UC Davis. He served as dean of UC Davis Law from 2008 to 2024. Johnson is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.