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Tom Homan, who served as Donald Trump’s border tsar, has announced plans for a bold and aggressive deportation strategy set to unfold in the first week of the new administration. This approach involves extensive raids on undocumented immigrants throughout U.S. cities.
Homan shared that the incoming president is preparing to reveal a series of executive orders designed to enable federal officers to carry out “targeted enforcement operations” aimed at immigrants with criminal backgrounds.
“You’ll witness this impactful strategy not only at the border but also within the country from day one,” Homan explained on Fox News over the weekend. These operations will be precise, with ICE officers heading out with exact information on their targets and likely locations.
Immigration was a cornerstone of Trump’s re-election campaign, where he adopted increasingly harsh rhetoric, even going as far as accusing immigrants of “poisoning the blood of our country.”
He vowed to initiate what he describes as the “largest deportation programme of criminals in American history” from the outset of his return to office.
“This process will start nearly immediately and very rapidly,” Trump mentioned in an NBC interview on Saturday. “We need to remove criminals from our nation.”
While the president-elect didn’t specify which cities would be the initial focus due to ongoing developments, Homan has previously mentioned that Democrat-led Chicago is likely to be a primary target.
Additionally, Homan cautioned Democrats in “sanctuary cities” on Saturday, noting that non-cooperation with ICE could lead to broader raids and increased numbers of arrests.
“These sanctuary policies push us deeper into communities, and ironically, they’ll result in more arrests of undocumented individuals, including those not initially sought out, because of the situation they’ve forced upon us,” Homan explained.
The upcoming immigration directives are just a part of a “record-setting” array of executive orders Trump plans to endorse on his first day back in office, addressing issues like tariffs, energy, and deregulation.
Neither Trump nor Homan have disclosed detailed plans about the immigration orders, although insiders suggest they could ignite discussions about the president’s scope of authority, particularly concerning the potential involvement of the military.
“There’s likely to be in-depth discussion about his power to send military forces to the border or merely increasing the National Guard presence,” commented one Republican congress member. “That’s something we might anticipate.”
