US President-elect Donald Trump announced late Sunday that he is reinstating hardline immigration official Tom Homan to oversee the country’s borders in the upcoming administration.
The 78-year-old Republican has pledged to launch — on his first day in office — the largest deportation operation of undocumented immigrants in US history.
“I am pleased to announce that former ICE Director and staunch advocate for border control, Tom Homan, will be joining the Trump Administration to head up our Nation’s Borders as ‘The Border Czar,’” Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there’s nobody better at policing and controlling our borders.”
Trump said Homan would be responsible for “all Deportation of Illegal
Aliens back to their Country of Origin.”
Homan, who led immigration enforcement for part of Trump’s first administration, spoke at the Republican National Convention in July, where he told supporters, “I have a message for the millions of illegal immigrants Joe Biden has released into our country: You better start packing now.”
Trump — who never conceded his 2020 loss — secured a remarkable comeback to the presidency in the 5 November election, solidifying his right-wing stance in US politics.
He will not be inaugurated until January and has thus far made only one cabinet appointment, naming his campaign manager Susie Wiles — whom he calls “Ice Baby” for her supposedly unflappable demeanour — as his White House Chief of Staff.
Late Sunday, Trump informed the New York Post that he had offered Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik the role of US Ambassador to the United Nations.
Stefanik, currently serving her fifth term, told the newspaper she had accepted the position and was “truly honoured.”
Supercharging Tensions
While the US government has struggled for years to manage the southern border with Mexico, Trump has amplified concerns by claiming an “invasion” of migrants who, he says, will harm Americans.
During his campaign, he railed against undocumented immigrants, using inflammatory rhetoric about those who “poison the blood” of the United States.
In rally speeches, he exaggerated local tensions and misrepresented immigration statistics and policy.
While violent crime spiked under Trump, it has declined each year during President Joe Biden’s administration.
Migrants statistically commit fewer crimes than the native population, although there have been a few high-profile cases of violent attacks on women and children involving foreign suspects, which have angered Republicans.
The number of encounters between US border patrol and migrants illegally crossing from Mexico is now similar to 2020 levels, after peaking at a record 250,000 for the month of December 2023.
Trump has pledged to combat migrant gangs using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798—which allows the federal government to round up and deport foreigners from enemy nations—as part of a mass deportation initiative he has called “Operation Aurora.”
Aurora was the site of a viral video showing armed Latinos in an apartment block, which led to widespread but false narratives about the town being overrun by Latin American migrants. Trump has also circulated the baseless story that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating residents’ pets.
AFP
