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Donald Trump’s border czar has vowed a “shock and awe” approach to deportations in the new administration’s first week, with 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 fear on the border and you’re going to see it on the interior,” Homan told Fox News on Saturday.
“They will be the target of enforcement operations. When (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) comes out, they’ll know exactly who they’re looking for and pretty much where to find them.”
Trump made immigration a central pillar of his re-election campaign, using increasingly draconian language at rallies that included accusing immigrants of “poisoning the blood of our country.”
He has promised to pursue “the largest criminal deportation program in American history” starting on the first day of his return to the White House.
“It’s going to start very early, very soon,” Trump said in a separate interview with NBC 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 has previously indicated that Democratic-controlled Chicago would be “ground zero” for the raids.
On Saturday, Homan warned Democrats in so-called “sanctuary cities” that failure to cooperate with ICE officials in apprehending migrants with criminal records would cause federal authorities to pursue larger raids that led to larger numbers arrests and deportations.
“These sanctification policies will force us into communities, and the result will be exactly what they don’t want — more foreigners arrested, more collateral arrested, because they forced us into this position.”
The immigration directives will be part of a “record number” of executive orders the incoming president has said he will sign on his first day in office, along with others on tariffs, energy and deregulation.
Neither Trump nor Homan would provide details on what the immigration orders would entail, but people familiar with the plans said they would likely fuel debate over the president’s powers to involve the military.
“I think there will be a serious conversation about whether he has the authority to send troops to the border — or just send the National Guard in greater numbers?” said a Republican member of Congress.
“This is something you have to wait for.”
