Donald Trump’s plan for mass deportations in the US is taking shape

Donald Trump’s plan to deport millions of illegal immigrants is taking shape, with his new border tsar issuing a chilling warning.

Donald Trump’s plan for the mass deportations of illegal immigrants in the United States is taking shape.

On Sunday Mr Trump announced he was bringing back hard line immigration official Thomas Homan as his new “border tsar”.

Mr Homan was in charge of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) crackdown during Mr Trump’s first term.

On Sunday night Mr Homan warned Democratic governors to “get out of the way”.

“If they’re not willing to help, then get the hell out of the way because ICE is going to do their job,” he said.

Suspected illegal immigrants lined up along the wall in the processing facility. Picture: NGTV

Previously, the ex-policeman and former ICE director told Sixty Minutes that whole families could be deported together.

Asked how deportations could take place without separating family members, he responded: “Families can be deported together.”

Speaking at the Republican National Convention during the US summer he put illegal immigrants on notice.

“I got a message to the millions of illegal immigrants that Joe Biden’s released in our country: You better start packing now,” he said.

Guatemalan immigrants deported from the United States wait for processing after arriving on an ICE deportation flight. Picture: Getty Images

Migrants wait for asylum hearings at the US-Mexico border on May 11, 2023, as seen from San Ysidro, California. Picture: AFP

Mr Trump, 78, has pledged to launch — on day one of his presidency — the largest deportation operation of undocumented immigrants in US history.

“I am pleased to announce that the Former ICE Director, and stalwart on Border Control, Tom Homan, will be joining the Trump Administration, in charge of our Nation’s Borders (“The Border Czar”),” Mr Trump posted on his social network Truth Social.

“I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders.”

Mr Trump said Homan would be in charge of “all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin”.

Mr Trump sealed a remarkable comeback to the presidency in the November 5 vote, cementing what is set to be more than a decade of US politics dominated by his hard line right-wing stance.

He will not be inaugurated until January, and so far has only made one cabinet appointment, naming his campaign manager Susie Wiles — who he calls “ice baby” due to her supposedly unflappable temperament — as his White House chief of staff.

Late Sunday, Mr Trump told the New York Post he had offered Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik the job of US ambassador to the United Nations.

Ms Stefanik, in her fifth term in office, told the newspaper she had accepted the role and was “truly honoured”.

Donald Trump delivers a televised address to the nation on funding for a border wall from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington DC on January 8, 2019. Picture: AFP

Tom Homan is Mr Trump’s new border tsar. Picture: AFP

Super-charge tensions

While the US government has struggled for years to manage its southern border with Mexico, Mr Trump has supercharged concerns by claiming an “invasion” is underway by migrants he says will rape and murder Americans.

During his campaign, he repeatedly railed against undocumented immigrants, employing violent rhetoric about those who “poison the blood” of the United States.

In rally speeches, he wildly exaggerated local tensions and misled his audiences about immigration statistics and policy.

Violent crime, which spiked under Mr Trump, has fallen in every year of President Joe Biden’s administration.

Migrants commit fewer crimes proportionately than the native population, though foreign suspects have been named in a few high-profile cases of violent attacks on women and children, infuriating Republicans.

The number of US border patrol encounters with migrants crossing over from Mexico illegally is now about the same as in 2020, the last year of Trump’s presidency, after peaking at a record 250,000 for the month of December 2023.

Mr Trump vowed to tackle migrant gangs using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 — which allows the federal government to round up and deport foreigners belonging to enemy countries — as part of a mass deportation drive he christened “Operation Aurora”.

Aurora was the scene of a viral video showing armed Latinos rampaging through an apartment block that spurred sweeping, false narratives about the town being terrorised by Latin American migrants.

Mr Trump has similarly promoted the fictitious story that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pets.

Originally published as Donald Trump’s plan for mass deportations in the US is taking shape