Tom Homan, President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming “border czar,” said he will reinstate the “zero tolerance” policy first implemented by Homan during Trump’s first term in office. This policy separates undocumented immigrant children from their parents when the family is charged with unlawfully entering the country.
Homan told The Washington Post that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials will hold parents and their children in “soft sided” tent structures, similar to those seen at the U.S. southern border during immigration surges.
The Trump administration will not hesitate to deport parents who are in the country illegally, even if they have U.S. citizen children. Homan said the federal government cannot deport U.S. citizens, however, families can be deported together — a decision the families will have to make.
“You knew you were in the country illegally and chose to have a child. So you put your family in that position,” Homan told the Post.
Homan said the incoming administration is planning on building more detention facilities.
“We need to show the American people we can do this and not be inhumane about it,” he said. “We can’t lose the faith of the American people.”
Last month, the state of Texas offered Trump’s team 1,400 acres of land along the U.S. southern border in Starr County and land near El Paso to build detention facilities to help with deportation efforts.
In an interview with CNN, Homan said he’s going to need more resources and manpower, including a minimum of 100,000 detention beds.
Trump has said he plans to use the military to help conduct mass deportations. Homan told the Post that troops can assist with transportation and other functions.
“I don’t see this thing as being sweeps and the military going through neighborhoods,” he told the Post, emphasizing Trump’s priority of removing undocumented immigrants with a criminal record.
Homan also acknowledged that troops are not authorized to arrest undocumented immigrants; only immigration law enforcement officials have the power to make those arrests.
Homan said he doesn’t have a target number of undocumented immigrants to deport.
