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Notes -
That actually seems like a pretty good example. I'm not sure from the descriptions I'm reading how much was random round-ups and how much was how the government already had paperwork on a lot of them. This might help with visa overstays, but I think most immigration at least through the southern border generally does not generate a government paper trail. There also was a level of buy-in from the police and actually employers too (!) which I don't think would be replicated today. Also, Britannica says the number was probably more like 300k rather than the claimed million or more, so if we extrapolate to today, that only would deport 600k rather than the millions Trump says. Plus, this was 1954. Recall that the US had just exited the Korean War and fought WW2 in the same decade -- the scale, capability, and organization of the military back then was at a high point and with a large amount of manpower that frankly the National Guard today I don't think could replicate.
There are limits, or more accurately consequences, to what the US can do abroad. Like let's take Mexico. Mexico generally lets us get away with a lot, but the threat of force might cause a lot of issues. We would actually stand to lose a lot if we forced it too much, like think how much access the DEA has in Mexico, that could change overnight. So yeah, very short term guns would work, but I don't think it would last long, and is that really what we want to return to? Would give echoes of the gun-enforced interventionism of the early 20th century in Latin America, which a lot of people frown on today.
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