Members of a US-bound migrant caravan stand on a road after federal police briefly blocked their way outside the town of Arriaga, Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018. Hundreds of Mexican federal officers carrying plastic shields had blocked the caravan from advancing toward the United States, after several thousand of the migrants turned down the chance to apply for refugee status and obtain a Mexican offer of benefits. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Donald Trump, as he is wont to do, sent out a tweet late Monday alerting the nation (and giving some red meat to journos) that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would begin executing mass deportations next week.

Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in. Mexico, using their strong immigration laws, is doing a very good job of stopping people…….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2019

The New York Post reports that it’s unclear if Trump is referring to existing deportation policy or something new, but that ICE is focusing on deporting illegals who have been issued final deportation orders but have chosen to ignore them. That group is close to 1 million people in number.

This tweet had news outlets immediately calling foul and explaining why such a measure will almost certainly fail. Here’s just a quick Google news search result using “Trump deportations” as search terms:

“Trump Could Have A Tough Time Meeting His Deportation Threat” ~ AP

“Trump Renews Pledge To Deport Millions, But ICE Reality Is Far More Limited” ~ WaPo

“Trump Vows To Deport Millions Of Migrants, But It’s Unclear How” ~ LA Times

And it goes on from there. A huge part of the criticism is that his tweet may have been timed to appeal to his base before his 2020 campaign kickoff rally happening Tuesday night.

Well, I mean of course it was.

But leaving aside any judgment about the wisdom of the massive deportations Trump says he has planned for next week, the press in general should know better by now than to draw premature conclusions about these things. Because it just might happen. He’s bested you before journalists. At some point it might be better to get back to reporting the news instead of trying to predict it.