At least 75 percent of the people living illegally in the United States will be subject to deportation under President Donald Trump's new executive orders, an immigration expert said.

Simply hopping the border could get an immigrant kicked out, suggested Robert Mortensen, a retired career U.S. Foreign Service officer, writing for the right-of-center Center for Immigration Studies.

Mortensen, whose writing was first reported on by the Washington Examiner's Paul Bedard, pointed to three key provisions in Executive Order 13768, which could impact the broad swath of illegal immigrants living in the country.

Scroll down for video

President Donald Trump promised as a candidate he would make illegal immigration a big part of his White House tenure

One immigration expert believes that 75 percent of people living in the United States illegally could be deported

First, the order prioritizes the removal of immigrants who 'have committed acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense.'

Mortensen points out that this could apply to border hoppers as anyone entering the United States without passing through an official border crossing has committed a criminal misdemeanor.

That could account for 6 million people, says the Los Angeles Times.

Next, the executive order targets individuals who 'have engaged in fraud or willful misrepresentation in connection with any official matter or application before a government agency.'

Illegal immigrants who have fraudulently obtained Social Security numbers for their I-9 forms, which the Los Angeles Times says could be as many as 8 million people, could fall under this umbrella.

Finally, the executive orders targets those who 'have abused any program related to receipt of public benefits.'

This, notes Mortensen, could apply toward individuals receiving Welfare or food stamps.

Illegal immigrants who border hopped could be subject to deportation, according to one conservative immigration expert's reading of a Trump executive order

There's no accurate reporting of how many people living in the United States illegally take advantage of social programs for the poor.

The Center for Immigration Studies is a conservative think tank that pushes for low immigration numbers.

Mortensen notes in his writing that Trump's executive order 'destroys the myth' of the 'law abiding illegal alien,' as anyone who comes illegally into the United States 'routinely commit[s] multiple felonies and other serious violations of American law when they enter the country, get jobs and obtain benefits reserved for citizens and legal residents.'

The former Foreign Service officer, clearly in support of Trump's actions, pointed to the fact that for years advocates of illegal immigration talked about how individuals paid payroll taxes.

Mortensen said this indicated that they had falsified a Social Security number.

'The advocates of illegal aliens apparently never thought that the federal government would hold illegal aliens accountable for their crimes, otherwise why would they have highlighted their criminal activities in an attempt to show that they are law abiding citizens?' he mused.



