President-elect Donald Trump and his border czar, Tom Homan, plan to launch what they call the largest deportation effort in U.S. history on the day of Trump’s inauguration. Homan said, “Day one, there will be ICE officers across the country. We’ll be out on the streets,” during an appearance on CNN’s The Source.
Trump’s first priority, according to Homan, is removing public safety and national security threats from the country. The plan is to apprehend the estimated 700,000 migrants who are in the country illegally and have committed a crime.
To accomplish this, Homan says they’ll need more resources and manpower, including 100,000 detention beds.
“But I’m not going to put a limit on it,” Homan said. “I’m going to tell you, at a minimum, we need 100,000 beds because we got a big population to look for.”
There are over 6,000 ICE deportation officers and 8,000 Homeland Security Investigations officers with immigration authority. Homan says they are seeking help with administrative tasks from other agencies, which would free up ICE agents currently in desk jobs under the Biden-Harris administration.
“We’re looking for help, and I’ve said this, I’d like to see [the Department of Defense] assist us,” Homan said. “DOD has assisted just about every presidential administration, so DOD could be a force multiplier.”
The effort will be costly, though Homan says the exact price tag is still unclear. However, at a minimum, he estimates the effort could run $86 billion.
“What price do you put on national security? Because we know a record number of people on the terrorist watchlist have been caught at the southern border,” Homan said. “We also know there’s over 2.2 million ‘gotaways.’ How many of them came from a country sponsoring terror? What price do you put on the thousands of angel moms and dads whose children were buried by their parents because their children were killed by someone who was not supposed to be here?”
Homan also noted that he is still working on the details of the deportation plan and that he will need congressional approval for funding.
