Good evening. Thanks for joining us. We begin tonight with breaking news and a lot of it, the appointments are coming pretty fast and pretty furious.

I don't blame you if you've had a hard time keeping up with President elect Donald Trump's cabinet pick announcements over the last week.

Deportations day one.

Hold on one second. We have a Fox News Alert. President Trump just announcing. That our own Pete Hegseth will be his secretary of defense.

Pete, of course, even Fox News was surprised when Trump announced to one of its hosts, the Army veteran Pete Hegseth would be picked to lead our largest federal agency.

Wow, that is pretty cool. Gosh, we're going to miss him at Fox, but that's a gain for the country.

Trump's pick to lead the Justice Department as attorney general, Matt Gaetz was even more shocking. Remember, the Florida congressman was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for sexual misconduct before he resigned his seat this week. He's denied all allegations of wrongdoing. And then there's Robert F Kennedy Jr. Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

Well, you know, it's not often that the entire medical and public health community is going to be in lockstep on something, but they're pretty close on this in.

'Now Kennedy has some views that health experts support, like his calls for processed foods to be removed from school lunches. But he is also perhaps the nation's most prominent anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist. And he wants fluoride to be removed from the country's public water supply.

Somebody said to me today, I can't think of any single individual who be more damaging to public health than RFK.

All of these Trump loyalists could have trouble getting confirmed, even in a Republican controlled Senate. But beyond the names, it's important to focus on the policies these people, if confirmed, will be in charge of implementing and how they will impact everyday Americans. And Trump has not been shy about what he wants to do first. And on day one.

I will launch the largest deportation program in American history.

My guest is CNN's Rosa Flores. She covers the U.S. southern border from Texas. She has the story of two immigrant families with two very different views of what might be coming their way. From CNN, this is One Thing. I'm David Rind.

So, Rosa, the most consistent promise from President elect Donald Trump on the campaign trail has been his plan to deport illegal immigrants from this country on a massive scale. So now that he's been elected, do we have any further idea of like, how this will actually work?

Well, David, we do have an overall idea of how this would work because we know how deportations happen. But with that said, there's still a lot of unknowns. So let me start with what we do know. Mass deportations take a lot of money. We know that it takes about 11,000 per person to apprehend, detain and process individuals.

$11,000 a person.

A person. We're talking about a lot of resources here and a lot of detention space. So while Donald Trump was making these promises on the campaign trail, allies and members of the private sector were busy working out plans, trying to figure out how to actually make this work because the federal government doesn't have enough federal detention space. They rely on the private sector. And I think that's some of the unknowns here, David, are really important to talk about. And one of those is the definition of what a criminal is or what a crime is.

I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered. We are being invaded and we are being conquered. Just like it was a military operation. And we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail or kick them the hell out of our country very rapidly.

So we know that Donald Trump has said that he's going to focus on deporting criminals. But what is the the definition of a criminal? Will that be a hard line definition, which means that anyone who has crossed the border is considered a criminal? That would, of course, be a very wide number of people that would be in this bucket.

Just the crossing itself is the criminal act in that scenario.

Exactly. Or will it be defined as a violent crime? Or could someone getting a DUI be considered a crime? You see what I'm saying? So there's a lot of unknowns here that once the Trump administration is in office and this starts, we will get a better sense of what they actually mean. Another big unknown, I think, is also Mexico's role. So when Donald Trump says that there will be these mass deportations, does that mean that they're going to be deporting non Mexicans to Mexico or will they be deporting them to their country of origin? And if the U.S. is planning on sending non Mexicans to Mexico, that could be a problem for the Mexican president.

Yeah does Mexico want anything to do with that?

Exactly. And the Mexican president has made it very clear that Mexico's sovereignty should be respected. And we know how important Mexico has been in the lowering of migrant apprehensions at the southern border. And what they tell me and I've talked to multiple advocates in multiple states in Mexico, is that really migrants fear are in two different buckets. They are afraid that CBP one app is going to go away, and that's the application that is used to cross the border to ports of entry. That's from the from the US government. And they also fear mass deportations. And so advocates are trying to figure out and trying to calculate, okay, what are these migrants going to do? Because they see how desperate they are. They know that a lot of these migrants don't have anywhere to go back to in their home countries. And so they're in limbo in Mexico right now. And some of the advocates that I talked to fear that what that means is that some migrants will try to cross the border illegally before Trump goes into office.

So they're worried that Trump will shut the border so severely that they're like, this is the time now to get across however we can and then deal with the consequences later.

Exactly. And when you think about the migrant apprehension numbers right now in the United States, they're very, very low for all practical purposes. The southern border is closed right now because of the executive orders that the Biden administration has issued. And so it is mind blowing to look at what's happening on the border right now and think that those policies would be reversed. So what will this disruption of mass deportations do? We don't know.

What do we know about the people that Trump plans to put in charge of setting this all in motion? Because we learned a few names. This week.

We did. And I think what's really telling is not just the names and the people that he's putting in place, but this process, David, is really in overdrive. And what I mean is Trump's not waiting for a Senate confirmation of a DHS secretary. He plans to run these mass deportations from the White House, and that's what really stands out. He appointed Tom Homan as border czar.

As a guy who spent 34 years deporting illegal aliens. I got a message to the millions of illegal aliens that Joe Biden released in our country in violation of federal law. You better start packing now.

He's a former ICE director, and he made it very clear in his RNC speech and in 60 minutes that entering the country illegally is a crime.

Because you're going home.

Which goes back to one of our earlier points. What will be the definition will they use on Hogan's definition or what will that definition be? And Tom Homan has also made it very clear in these either the speech or the interview, that the undocumented community should pack their bags because of these mass deportations and that families could be deported together.

I don't use the term raids, but you're probably talking about worksite enforcement operations, which this administration pretty much stopped workplace enforcement.

That's a roundup.

And that's going to be necessary.

What we do know historically, David, is that whenever there have been mass deportations, they don't include just the undocumented community because there are a lot of mixed status families in the United States. And what that means is individuals live in families that include U.S. citizens, undocumented people, DOCA recipients, green card holders. And so if there is a raid or an individual is removed from this country, they're part of that family. They're part of that community. And so that entire family and community is impacted.

We stand here today at a crossroads in the history of this nation, in the history of our civilization.

So Donald Trump not only appointed Tom Homan as Borders are, but he also appointed Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff. And he's been a long time immigration hardliner.

Who's going to stand up and say the cartels are gone, the criminal migrants are gone. The gangs are gone. America is for Americans and Americans only.

He advocated for child separation in migrant detention facilities, and he really is considered the lead architect of mass deportations. That's how mass deportations would start on day one. And then, of course, there's the cabinet position of the DHS secretary. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.

South Dakota is directly affected by this invasion. We are affected by cartel presence right here on our tribal reservations, by the spread of drugs and human trafficking throughout our communities, and by the drain on our resources at the local, the state and the federal level.

She doesn't have a background in this space, David, but she's a Trump loyalist. She's visited the southern border. She's expressed support for hardline immigration policies. She's used the word invasion to describe the situation on the border. So you get the idea there. So by all accounts, these efforts of mass deportation really appear to be on overdrive on day one.

Well then. So how are immigrants and migrant advocates preparing for what may be coming here? Is there anything that could be done to, you know, slow this down?

You know, just like Trump allies had been preparing. Some of these advocacy organizations had been preparing as well. Obviously, they were bracing for the unknown. They didn't know what the results of the election were going to be. But I can tell you that nationally, organizations like Lou Slack, like the ACLU, they say that they've been gearing up resources, they've been lawyering up. They're in essence, getting ready for the legal fight so that they can fight for the rights and for the civil rights of Hispanics in this country. That's how they put it. And then there's organizations that are state wide in various parts of the country. And I'll give you a few examples of, for example, in California, which relies on migrant labor. They're calling for immigration reform for those individuals working, for example, in agriculture in New York. Some organizations are changing their missions a little bit, and they are focusing now on this new challenge of mass deportation. They're trying to figure out, okay, what do we need to do now to serve this community in Arizona? I can tell you there's a lot of fear. That's one of the areas of this country where a lot of militias have been patrolling. The fear there is that this will embolden these militias to be aggressive, not just against migrants, but also against the volunteers that serve these migrants. And then, of course, in Texas here where I am, I've talked to people here in Houston, I've talked to people on the border, on both sides of the border. And there's just a lot of fear because all of the times the advocates who serve these communities, they look like the migrants themselves. I mean, they're immigrants. Their families are immigrants. And so they feel that they might be caught up in any raid or roundup that could happen in their communities. And here in Houston, I was also able to talk to a few families and they have very different perspectives. David And I think this is what makes it so interesting because the Latino community is really split on Donald Trump and Donald Trump's.

When I just became a green card holder after 33 years of being in this country. I'm I'm turning 39 this year. I got married to Gary now about five years ago. So it's been a really long journey. So when people tell me you have to wait in line or get in line or stuff like that, it's. It's not as easy as it seems.

For example, the Espinosa family says that Espinoza just became a green card holder this summer. His family is made up of Duco recipients, U.S. citizens. People who are undocumented in this country. And there's a lot of fear in his family that they could be impacted by deportation.

You live in that constant pressure of knowing that you don't know.

And is it because you feel you might get rounded up with other people who are undocumented?

The fear the fear that that could happen is something that's very tangible for me, for our families, for many family members that I have that are still in limbo, that they may not have status at this moment. And it is something that brings us a lot of fear. It's kept this up for the last few days. It's it keeps us up at night. You know.

In our interview. He became emotional. His wife, Karynna, who's a U.S. citizen, became emotional. And how do you.

Tell all of our kids, like. y nephews, they're also our kids. So it's hard to to explain to them, like maybe your parents are not going to be here.

And which he described is is the very real pain that she felt when Donald Trump won because of what it could mean for family separation, for her family. And she said she doesn't know the words that she could have or find to explain to their six year old son if her family is deported.

When you have to explain to six year old away, you can't travel with them, that that changes everything.

That hit home for you.

Very much so. Seeing him cry, seeing him asking. But why, Papi? Why can't you go with me is something that I remember asking my parents when I was little. And I know how much that hurt me. And so I didn't want to hurt him the same way.

And then on top of that, suicide feels very guilty that it's his legal status, his legal situation that has created a lot of uncertainty in his family.

He's worried he could put kind of the whole family at risk.

Exactly. And because for the past 33 years, he's been trying to get legalized and and normalize his legal status. He knows that all of that pain and grief his family has felt. And so he feels that guilt. And then there's the Velasquez family.

Cuál fue su reacción. What was your reaction to Donald Trump winning?

Look, I'm very happy when when Donald Trump I know the Donald Trump is the winner for the for the next four years because the economy in United States in general is is going to increase is go is is very good for all people.

Gelacio Velazquez is an undocumented immigrant. He's a mechanic who's worked in Houston for 25 years. He has three U.S. citizen children. And he says that if he could have voted, he would have voted for Donald Trump. And to be clear, undocumented people not vote. Right. What he is saying is if he could have voted, he would have voted for Donald Trump.

So you support Donald Trump because of the economy?

For the economy, Yes.

'But you don't support the anti-immigrant rhetoric?

'I'm not supporting the anti-immigrant action.

'But he makes one thing very clear, though. He supports Donald Trump for the economy, what he thinks Donald Trump can do for the economy. And he does not agree with Donald Trump on anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Are you afraid that you could be deported in this mass deportation?

I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. And I tell on my community, millions and millions, the immigrants without documents don't do it. Don't feel fear. Don't fear. Fear. Don't fear fear. Because. Because we are not criminals. Why are you have to feel afraid?

He's not afraid of getting deported. And what I found really telling, David, is that, in essence, this man who's been in the U.S. for 25 years and is undocumented and has three U.S. citizen children is really selfless about all of this because he says a good economy in the United States is a good future for his US citizen children, and that is better, he says, for his family.

Do you have a plan in case you or someone in your family gets deported?

We do. And we've had it our entire lives.

And these two families with two very different views on Donald Trump had the same plan that they would leave the country with their family.

I respect the decision. I leave the country. I'm not going back.

So it goes back to the point that you and I were talking about earlier. This means that U.S. citizen children would be leaving the United States and going to a country where they really haven't been other than maybe visited every now and then with family, but a country that they don't know.

Have you thought of how you would explain to the kids?

I have. And I never come up with something that's going to help them feel better. I don't think that there is anything that I can tell any of my nephews and nieces and my son to make them feel better for not having their parents here.

And the unknown is probably one of the most difficult things for these families. They don't know if they're going to be separated or not.

You and I have discussed many times how the immigration issue goes well beyond the U.S. southern border. And obviously, like we talked about, this plan, if it was enacted, would be carried out all throughout the country. So even beyond that fear that they've heard about in immigrant communities, will this plan have any knock on effects in similar ways for people not even directly impacted by the deportations themselves?

Absolutely. All politics aside, there's a very real financial component that will impact listeners, that will impact you and I. Because the reality is that people who are in the U.S. legally, they work. So they support the job market here. They pay taxes. These are income taxes and sales taxes. So they go to the grocery store just like you and I do. They go buy clothes. They contribute to the overall U.S. economy. So when you think about businesses, for example, that rely on undocumented workers, if all those workers are deported, they have to find other people to take those roles. That might mean that they might need to pay higher wages to replace these deported workers. That might mean that you as a consumer might have to pay a little more for that service or for that product because those workers are no longer here.

And with the job market booming, where are they going to find just the literal bodies to fill the jobs?

Exactly. And back to the federal taxes and the payroll taxes that these undocumented workers pay, they don't qualify for Social Security. They don't qualify for Medicare. And so they're paying into a system and they're getting zero benefits back. And so it's really the US citizenry that is benefiting from that. And then I think there's another really practical reality, David, that's important to point out, and that's what that would look like day to day. And we've seen this before and advocates have explained it to me in the past. Whenever there's fear like this of mass deportation or when it becomes very real in immigrant communities, that's when you see that families stop taking their children to school. Families stop going to the grocery store. And again, it's because of the fear, because of the fear that they could be caught in a deportation raid and because they fear that their families could be separated.

Rosa, thanks so much. I really appreciate it.

Thank you for having me.

One thing is a production of CNN Audio. This episode was produced by Paola Ortiz and me, David Rind. Our senior producers are Felicia Patinkin and Faiz Jamil Matt Dempsey is our production manager. Dan Dzula is our technical director, and Steve Licktieg is the executive producer of CNN Audio. We get support from Haley Thomas, Alex Manasseri, Robert Mathers, Jon Dianora, Leni Steinhardt, Jamus Andrest, Nichole Pesaru and Lisa Namerow. Special thanks to Sarah Weistfeldt, Wendy Brundage and Katie Hinman. We'll be back on Wednesday. I'll talk to them.