US President-elect Donald Trump intends to keep his campaign promise on immigration. He, in fact, announced on Sunday the return of Tom Homan, a hard-liner, at the head of the agency responsible for border and immigration control (ICE).
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The 78-year-old president has pledged to launch, on the first day of his mandate, the largest operation to deport illegal migrants in the history of the United States.
“I am pleased to announce that former ICE Director and pillar of border control, Tom Homan, will join the Trump administration where he will be responsible for our country's borders (+The Border Czar+)wrote the Republican billionaire on his Truth Social network. I have known Tom for a long time, and there is no one better than him to monitor and control our borders»continued Mr. Trump.
Tom Homan will be responsible for “all expulsions of illegal aliens to their country of origin”added Donald Trump. During his campaign, he raged on several occasions against illegal migrants who, according to him, “poison the blood” of his country, and promised to re-establish a policy of family separation at the border.
Thousands of migrant children already separated from their parents
Homan appeared at the Republican National Convention in July, telling his supporters: “I have a message for the millions of illegal immigrants that Joe Biden has allowed into our country: You better start packing your bags now”
Thomas Homan had already led ICE during Donald Trump's previous term (2017-2021). Under this first Trump presidency, nearly 4,000 migrant children were separated from their parents and placed in detention.
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Donald Trump has made another appointment to his future cabinet, naming his campaign manager Susie Wiles – whom he calls “ice baby” because of her supposedly unflappable temperament – as White House chief of staff.
He also announced that he had named Republican MP Elise Stefanik as United States ambassador to the United Nations, in statements to the American media late Sunday.
“I am honored to nominate President Elise Stefanik to serve in my administration as United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Elise is an incredibly strong, tenacious and intelligent fighter for America.”Mr. Trump said in a statement to the New York Post.
Trump worries about the false idea of an “invasion” of migrants
As the U.S. government has struggled for years to manage its southern border with Mexico, Trump has exacerbated concerns by asserting that a « invasion » of migrants was underway who he said would rape and murder Americans.
In his election speeches, he greatly exaggerated local tensions and misled his audience about immigration statistics and policy. The number of violent crimes, which increased during Trump's first term, has declined each year under President Joe Biden's administration.
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Migrants commit proportionately fewer crimes than the local population, although foreign suspects have been named in a few high-profile cases of violent attacks on women and children, infuriating Republicans.
The number of U.S. border patrols encountering migrants arriving illegally from Mexico is now about the same as in 2020, the final year of Trump's presidency, after peaking at a record number of 250,000 for the month of December 2023.
Fight against gangs
Trump has pledged to combat migrant gangs using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which allows the federal government to round up and deport aliens from enemy countries, as part of a campaign to mass expulsion that he called “Operation Aurora”. It was as part of this operation that a video went viral purportedly showing armed Latinos rampaging through a building with false narratives about a city being terrorized by Latino migrants.
Donald Trump, who won't be inaugurated until January, has also promoted the fictional story that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating locals' pets.
