Why Trump must deport everyone here illegally at once

If Donald Trump is going to deport everyone in the country illegally, he should do it all at once.
Why? Because that would send the U.S. economy into a spiral, and that might be the only way to wake people up.
On Monday, Trump confirmed that he’s prepared to declare a national emergency and use the military to carry out his mass deportation plans as soon he takes office.
His incoming administration has said it plans first to target criminals who pose the greatest security risks, though many expect the deportation effort to widen to those whose only crime is having entered the country illegally.
Trump supporters cheering his mass deportation plans don’t see how deeply immigrant labor cuts through the U.S. economy.
Nothing is getting through them.
Not the warnings from farmers in California who say that without enough workers to pick produce, it would be left to rot, sending prices even higher at the supermarket.
Or the similar warnings from just about every employment sector, from construction to hospitality to homecare to landscaping.
So, perhaps they need to see it first and feel the financial squeeze to understand it. It’ll be too late by then, but so be it.  
Perhaps losing the almost $100 billion that undocumented immigrants contributed in federal, state and local taxes annually would get their attention.
Perhaps farmers going bankrupt would get their attention, or the poultry and beef industry collapsing, or the skyrocketing prices all of us would have to pay.
Sounds apocalyptic, but there’s only way of finding out. Deport them all and force all American citizens to do those jobs.
And don’t stop at deportations. Go after employers who hire millions of undocumented immigrants and put them behind bars, too.
Is that the country we want? Then go ahead.
Send mothers and fathers with their U.S. citizen children back to “wherever they came from,” but deport everyone at the same time.
Perhaps then (and only then) we’ll find out the true contributions of immigrants to this country’s economy.
Elvia Díaz is editorial page editor for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Reach her at 602-444-8606 or [email protected]. Follow her on X, (formerly Twitter), @elviadiaz1.