The incoming Trump administration, under the direction of border czar Thomas Homan, is preparing to launch what it has described as the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. The initiative is slated to begin on Inauguration Day, targeting undocumented immigrants nationwide and Homan himself outlined the plan during an interview with CNN's Kaitlan Collins, emphasizing the need for significant resources and congressional support.
Homan said he will need a minimum of 100,000 beds to detain undocumented immigrants – more than doubling the 40,000 detention beds ICE is currently funded for. "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," referring to the estimated 700,000 migrants who are in the country illegally and have committed a crime.
Homan also emphasized that he plans to seek assistance from the Department of Defense for logistical support, freeing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to focus on enforcement:
"We're looking for help, and I've said this, I'd like to see [the Department of Defense] assist us. DOD has assisted just about every presidential administration, so DOD could be a force multiplier"
Homan went on to estimate the cost of the operation, which he projects will exceed $86 billion, though exact figures are still being finalized. He was adamant, as Trump has been in the past, that price should not be an issue as deportations should be a priority for everyone:
"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. 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?"
Incoming border czar Tom Homan says he doesn’t know how many people they expect to deport yet, but he'll need a minimum of 100,000 beds — more than doubling the 40,000 beds ICE is currently funded for — and more ICE agents. “It all depends on the funding I get from the Hill.” pic.twitter.com/CbARoVhGG7
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) December 19, 2024
In addition to targeting individuals with criminal records, the plan includes renewed workplace raids and expanded efforts in Democratic-led "sanctuary cities." These cities, which limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, are seen as complicating factors in the operation.
"The feasibility for mass deportation is certainly questionable at this rate for several reasons," explained geopolitical analyst and national security lawyer Irina Tsukerman to The Latin Times. "Identifying the migrants with criminal records will be a time consuming task, and if these individuals move around, that will further complicate ICE efforts. Overall, given the record number of migrants who have entered the US illegally since the Biden administration took office, significant resources will need to be allocated both in terms of ICE and other human resources, and in terms of costs of deportation."
Tsukerman also concluded that even through Congress would likely be willing to allocate additional resources to the deportation plan as per Thomas Homans demands, " given the current wrangle over the overall funding budget for the government just to avoid a shutdown, to proceed quickly it would likely need to be a separate bill, otherwise, given the internal disagreements over all sorts of funding related issues, such as the debt limit, the funding along could take a significant amount of time."
