President-elect Donald Trump’s new border czar Tom Homan is putting together an extensive deportation plan for when he hits the ground running after they are both sworn into office in January.
Homan spoke to The Center Square about his priorities, illustrating a marked difference from President Joe Biden’s border czar, Vice President Kamala Harris, who repeatedly said the border was secure and she didn’t need to go to there. Under the Biden-Harris administration, the greatest number of illegal border crossers, roughly 14 million, were reported in U.S. history, The Center Square reported.
“The overarching theme,” Homan said, “is millions of people entered this country illegally, which is a crime.” The Biden administration argued illegal border crossers “have a right to claim asylum” and to go before an immigration judge, he said. “We gave them that opportunity to see a judge. But we know, based on immigration court data, that nearly nine out of 10 of them will get an order for removal because they simply don’t qualify for asylum.”
The fact that millions of people illegally entered the U.S. and nine out 10 are ordered to be removed necessitates “a mass deportation operation,” he said. “Are these dirty words? No. On the end of historic mass illegal immigration with nine out of 10 getting orders for removal, there has to be a mass deportation program. The only other option is to let them stay,” which nullifies immigration law and the immigration court system, he argues.
“It also sends a message to the entire world that you can enter this country illegally and you can go to court and lose your case and you’re still not going to go home,” he said. “We’ll never solve the southwest border crisis like that. So, you know what? You can’t demand due process and not accept the end result.” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “himself has testified numerous times before Congress that for those who don’t qualify for asylum, they’d be removed. Well guess what? It’s time to do the removal part.”
Removal priorities
The removal process will prioritize individuals based on their threat to society, he said. “The priorities will focus on public safety threats, national security threats and fugitives,” those who “got due process at great taxpayer expense and the federal judge ordered them removed, but they didn’t leave, and they became a fugitive.”
Individuals who are on the federal Terrorist Watch List and “Special Interest Aliens,” those from countries of foreign concern, are all priorities, he said. “We’ll work very closely with the FBI and intelligence community” to identify and find them, he said. “We know a record number of people on the terrorist watchlist have crossed the border,” he said. Homan has long warned that the border crisis created the greatest national security threat since 9/11.
Within the last year alone, numerous officials issued “imminent terrorist attack warnings” and Biden extended multiple national emergency orders due to ongoing terror threats since 9/11. Under his watch the greatest number of known or suspected terrorists were apprehended, with the majority caught at the northern border, The Center Square reported.
Under the Biden administration, more than 660,000 criminal foreign nationals were recently identified to be deported by ICE, including 435,719 convicted criminals, The Center Square reported. ICE agents arrested more than 387,000 criminals in fiscal years 2021 through 2023, The Center Square reported. The majority were citizens of Mexico, Nicaragua, Columbia and Venezuela.
Finding and removing millions of SIAs, those from COFC, criminals released into the U.S. through the CHNV parole program, including members of a violent Venezuelan prison gang, and those identified in national security cases will “last us for a long time,” Homan said.
US military role
The U.S. military will assist in Trump’s deportation efforts, Homan said. Title 8 enforcement authority will remain with federal agents from U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security Investigations.
The military will provide air and ground transportation assistance, work on construction building and intelligence targeting, he said. “They can do all kinds of things that don’t require immigration authority,” he said. “Those with immigration authority like HSI agents and ICE agents, deportation officers, they’ll be making the arrests.” He also pointed out that “the DOD has been used in every administration to help with the border. We’re just going to expand that enforcement to help with non-law enforcement duties.”
However, “no one’s off the table,” he said. “If you’re in the country illegally, you got a problem.” He’s previously warned “the millions of the illegal aliens that Joe Biden released in our country in violation of federal law, ‘you better start packing now. Because you are going home.’”
Homan also encouraged all foreign nationals in the country illegally to voluntary return to their country of origin because it would be better for them to do so.
“If you’re in the country illegally and you got an order for removal, or even if you don’t have one, if you’re in the country, leave on your own. Because when you leave on your own, there’s no penalties. But if we actually have to deport you with a formal order for deportation, there’s a 20-year ban. That means you can’t get a visit visa, you can’t get a tourist visa. If you have a U.S. citizen child that lives here, he can’t petition for you. So, it’s better to leave on your own rather than getting a formal order of removal.”
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