Trump Says He'd Use Local Police For His Massive Immigration Crackdown

Local law enforcement that won't participate "won't partake in the riches," the presumptive GOP presidential nominee vaguely threatened in a new interview.

Donald Trump says he’d make local and state police departments participate in a massive immigration crackdown if he wins a second term in the White House, even though he wouldn’t have the authority to do this.

In an interview with Time published Tuesday, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee said if he wins the election in November, his immigration plans include setting up migrant detention camps along the U.S.-Mexico border and deploying the military nationwide to deport millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.

“We’re going to be using local police,” Trump said, “because local police know them by name, by first name, second name and third name. I mean, they know them very well.”

U.S. presidents don’t have the authority to order local and state police departments to carry out immigration policies run by the federal government. Asked to elaborate on his plans on this, Trump vaguely threatened that they could lose federal money if they don’t play a role in his crackdown.

“There’s a possibility that some won’t want to participate, and they won’t partake in the riches, you know,” said the Republican presidential hopeful. “We have to do this. This is not a sustainable problem for our country.”