How will Trump’s new ‘border tsar’ approach immigration?
10 hours ago Rachel Looker BBC News, Washington Veteran immigration official Tom Homan will be in charge of the country’s borders following Trump’s inauguration in January.
He has however, provided some ideas on how he would approach the border.
Targeted arrests to facilitate deportations Homan has said he would use a targeted approach would be used when carrying out arrests and deportations.
Workplace mass immigration arrests Homan also has pointed to reviving mass immigration arrests at workplaces – what he refers to as work-site enforcement operations, which Biden discontinued in 2021.
How is Trump’s new “border tsar” going to handle immigration?
ten hours previously.
Rachel Looker.
Washington: BBC News.
After Trump is sworn in in January, veteran immigration official Tom Homan will oversee the nation’s borders.
His plans to reduce illegal immigration into the United States, a key platform of Trump’s election campaign, will be closely watched after a decades-long career in law enforcement and at the border.
So, how is he going to tackle the task?
The former police officer and acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), Homan, has called border immigration “the biggest national security vulnerability this nation has seen since 9/11 and we have to fix it.”. “.
He said, “You better start packing now,” in reference to illegal immigrants in the United States, at the Republican National Convention in the summer. “.”.
However, since managing immigration requires coordination between multiple government agencies, it is unclear how his role as “border tsar” will develop.
But he has offered some suggestions about how he would go about crossing the border.
Reversing Biden’s policies.
Before Trump was elected, in October, Homan told CBS News’s 60 Minutes that he would prioritize “public safety threats” and “national security threats” before focusing on non-criminal immigrants who were in the country illegally.
The Biden administration’s policies, which instruct Ice to concentrate on deporting serious criminals, national security threats, and recent border crossers, would be reversed under such a strategy.
Undocumented immigrants who have been residing in the US and have not committed any crimes are protected by the current Biden policy.
targeted arrests in order to make deportations easier.
Homan has stated that when making arrests and deporting people, he will take a targeted approach.
When asked about the process of deportations in the same October interview, Homan responded, “It’s not going to be a mass sweep of neighborhoods.”. It will not involve the construction of concentration camps. I’ve read everything. This is absurd. “.
“The arrests will be targeted. Based on a number of factors, we will be able to determine who we will arrest and where we are most likely to find them. “inquiry procedures,” he continued.
deporting families collectively.
Trump’s contentious “zero tolerance” policy, which separated thousands of immigrant children from their parents, was influenced by Homan.
Backlash against the policy began when children were placed in shelters while their parents were being prosecuted without any intention of reunifying them.
Homan has stated that he was one of three officials who signed the policy memo that resulted in the separations, but he did not write it. “I signed it with the intention of saving lives,” he said.
Homan stated that he had no intention of bringing that policy back.
He has instead stated that families could be “deported together” in response to a question about whether deportations could be executed without separating families.
mass arrests for immigration in the workplace.
Homan has also suggested bringing back the practice of mass immigration arrests at workplaces, which Biden stopped in 2021 and which he calls “work-site enforcement operations.”.
He asked on Fox News’s Fox and Friends on Monday, “What is the option for those who are going to oppose deportation?”.
It is within your rights to apply for asylum. You are entitled to a court appearance. We bring that about. However, if the judge orders you to return home at the conclusion of that due process, we must take them there. “.”.
Originally, Homan was a border patrol agent and police officer.
After beginning his career as a police officer in New York State, Homan, 62, went on to become a border patrol agent, a position he frequently mentions.
“I worked as a border patrol officer. He said, “I wore the uniform,” on Monday on Fox & Friends. I took pride in wearing the uniform. I rose through the ranks as the first Ice director. “”.
He was appointed in 2013 by former President Barack Obama to lead Ice’s deportation division. It was a period of record-breaking deportations by the agency.
The highest civil service honor, the Presidential Rank Award, was given to Homan in recognition of his efforts.
During his second week in office in 2017, Trump named Homan as acting director of Ice, a position he held until 2018.
Later, Trump proposed him to be the permanent director of the agency, but the Senate never took up the nomination.
A contributing member of Fox News, Homan was a visiting fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation and a contributor to the ultra-conservative policy proposal Project 2025.
Increased funding for a wall along the US-Mexico border, a more potent border police force, and higher immigration fees are all mentioned.
Trump has disassociated himself from the agenda during his campaign.
