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Donald Trump’s border czar has promised a “shock and awe” approach to deportations in the first week of the new administration, launching sweeping raids targeting undocumented immigrants in cities across the US.
Tom Homan said the incoming president will immediately unveil a series of executive orders directing “targeted enforcement operations” by federal officers against immigrants with criminal records.
“You’re going to see — in the first week — you’re going to see shock and surprise at the border and you’re going to see it in the interior,” Homan told Fox News on Saturday.
“They are going to be targeted enforcement operations. when [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] goes out, they know exactly who they’re looking for and where they can find them.”
Trump made immigration a central pillar of his re-election campaign, using increasingly harsh language at rallies that included accusations that immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country.”
He has pledged to pursue “the largest criminal deportation program in American history” from his first day back in the White House.
“It’s going to start very soon, very quickly,” Trump told NBC in a separate interview on Saturday. We need to get criminals out of our country.
The president-elect declined to say which cities would be targeted first “because things are evolving,” but Homan indicated earlier that Democrat-run Chicago would be “ground zero” for the campaign.
On Saturday, Homan warned Democrats in so-called “sanctuary cities” that failure to cooperate with ICE officials in arresting immigrants with criminal records would force federal authorities to launch larger raids that would lead to greater arrests and deportations.
“These sanctuary policies are going to be forced into our community and the result is going to be exactly what they don’t want — more alien arrests, more collateral arrests, because they’ve forced us into this position.”
The immigration guidelines will be part of a “record-setting number” of executive orders the incoming president says he will sign along with others on tariffs, energy and deregulation on his first day in office.
Neither Trump nor Homan would say specifically what the immigration orders would include, but people familiar with the plans said they would likely spark debate over the president’s ability to involve the military.
“I think there’s going to be a serious conversation about whether he has the authority to send troops to the border — or do you just send more National Guard?” A Republican member of Congress said.
“It’s something you should expect.”
