Raising alarm over President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration plans, his “border czar” said in an interview with The Washington Post published Thursday that his administration plans to return to holding migrant families with children.
Tom Homan, who served as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during President Trump’s first term, said ICE is using “‘soft-sided” tent structures similar to those used by U.S. border officials to deal with migrant surges. “We will consider accommodating parents with children.” ” the Post summarized. “The government will not hesitate to deport parents who are in the country illegally, even if they have young U.S.-born children, leaving it up to those families to decide whether to leave together or separately,” he said. added.
Since Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris last month, immigrant rights advocates have criticized first-term Republican policies such as forced family separation and attempts to abolish birthright citizenship from mass deportations. He has repeatedly expressed concerns about his 2024 campaign promises leading up to the 2024 campaign. Guarantees of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Homan, who oversaw the so-called “zero tolerance” policy that separated thousands of immigrant children from their parents, said: “Here’s the problem…You know you’re in the country illegally and you don’t take your child. I chose to give birth. That’s why you said this.” Your family is in such a position. ”
Harris and President Joe Biden have faced criticism for various immigration policies, but their administrations ended family detention. And last year, when it was reported that the White House was considering reinstating the practice, 383 groups called on the president to keep his promise. When he took office, he vowed to “pursue immigration policies that are just, compassionate, and humane.”
Under the Biden administration, the government halted large-scale labor-site immigration raids and ultimately ended the “Remain in Mexico” policy that blocked asylum-seekers from entering the United States. Homan told the Post that the incoming Trump administration should bring them back.
With less than a month until President Trump’s inauguration, Biden is “using the power of his pen to take sanctuary from the coming deportation machine that will shatter the human rights of our immigrant neighbors and those who dream of taking refuge here.” They are facing pressure to protect those in need. ” Paul O’Brien, Amnesty International’s US executive director, said earlier this month.
“Among the incoming administration’s border hawks, Mr. Homan is perhaps most aware of the limits of the government’s ability to deliver on its promise of mass deportations and the potential for political backlash,” the newspaper reported.
Those hardliners include South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem, the dog-killer Trump nominated to head the Department of Homeland Security. Stephen Miller, Architect of Family Separation, President-elect’s Homeland Security Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy; and Caleb Vitello, the next acting ICE director whom Miller previously sought to install at the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
“We need to build a family facility,” Homan told the newspaper. But he also said, “We need to show the American people that this is not inhumane and that we can do this. We cannot afford to lose the trust of the American people.”
Critics of the incoming administration say that despite Mr. Trump’s electoral and popular vote wins last month, pushing ahead with Republican immigration policies, including “concentration camps” for immigrant families, is a public no-no. It suggests that there will be anger.
“Decent people around the world will hate this country…and they should,” media columnist and Brooklyn College professor Eric Alterman said on social media in response to the Post report.
“Trump’s next border czar heralds performative brutality,” said Elio Fred Garcia, author and adjunct associate professor at New York University. “It included returning the children, but there was no record of which children came.” My parents say it’s a crime against humanity. ”
Lee Geraint, an ACLU attorney who has defended many serious immigration cases, told the Post, “The incoming administration refuses to acknowledge the horrific harm it did to families and young children in the first place, and continues to do so again.” It appears that they are determined to target the victims of gratuitous crimes.” suffering. “
“I think people may have broadly voted for mass deportations, but I don’t think they voted for further family separation and unnecessary cruelty to children,” he added, referring to the November election. .
