Former President Donald Trump s most significant policy plank in his third presidential campaign is to implement a system of mass deportation to remove up to 20 million noncitizens from the United States, a plan that apparently aims to not only remove people living here illegally but also to chase away or accidentally round up U.S. citizens as well.

He is promising to deploy the military and deputize local police officers to round up millions of people, detain them in makeshift camps and then ship them off to other countries whether or not the destination is the persons country of origin.

This plan is billed as targeting only those who have come to the country or reside in it illegally, with a special emphasis on supposed migrant gang members. It offers a story of those who deserve to be here and those who dont. Those who are part of the national community and those who exist outside its bounds and, perhaps, its laws.

But 79% of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. have been living and participating in American communities for more than 15 years. They have married U.S. citizens, hold jobs that prop up their local and national economies and have children and grandchildren who are citizens. Ripping these people out of the country and away from their families will ripple through every community in the country.

Communities are like a fabric the way that the threads are interwoven, said Heidi Altman, federal advocacy director for the National Immigration Law Centers Immigrant Justice Fund, an immigrant rights nonprofit. If you snip at one, eventually the whole of the fabric comes loose.

This plan to tear communities apart will also ensnare U.S. citizens, green card holders and others here legally, either by accident or with intent. Trump and his advisers are already saying thats what theyll do.

Tom Homan, Trumps former acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was asked in a 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday whether there is a way that Trumps mass deportation plan could remove undocumented people without separating them from their families.

Of course there is, Homan said. Families can be deported together.

What Homan is saying, without saying it directly, is that mixed-status families, with some family members who are U.S. citizens and others who lack legal status, can choose to self-deport if they wish to remain together.