(Washington) US President-elect Donald Trump announced on Sunday the return of hard-liner Tom Homan to head the agency responsible for border control and immigration (ICE).
Published at 12:31 a.m.
Updated at 6:24 a.m.
The 78-year-old president-elect has pledged to launch, on his first day in office, the largest expulsion operation of irregular migrants in the history of the United States.
“I am pleased to announce that former ICE Director and Border Control stalwart Tom Homan will be joining the Trump Administration where he will be responsible for our nation’s borders (“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 surveil and control our borders,” Mr. Trump continued.
Tom Homan will be responsible for “all deportations of illegal aliens to their countries of origin,” Trump added.
During his campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly lashed out against illegal migrants who, according to him, “poison the blood” of his country, and promised to reinstate a policy of family separation at the border.
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.
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. Trump won’t be inaugurated until January.
« Invasions »
As the U.S. government has struggled for years to manage its southern border with Mexico, Trump has heightened concerns by saying an “invasion” of migrants is underway who he says will 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.
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 .
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 which 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 also promoted the fictional story that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio are eating residents’ pets.
