President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to mass-deport millions of undocumented immigrants is gradually coming into focus this week as Trump and members of his new administration begin readying what they have called the “largest deportation operation this country’s ever seen.” The administration will target millions of individuals based on “their threat to society,” Trump’s new border czar, Tom Homan, told The Center Square Monday. Meanwhile, Trump confirmed on Truth Social last week that he plans to declare a national emergency and involve the US military in his deportation campaign, who, Homan clarified, would primarily carry out support tasks, such as building new holding centers or transporting immigration detainees.
Trump will prioritize deportations for people who may have criminal associations, who have been denied asylum, or who come from “countries of foreign concern,” such as China and Nicaragua, Homan said, adding that America’s intelligence agencies will help identify and locate those targets and immigration agents will arrest them. But “no one’s off the table,” Homan told The Center Square, raising the possibility that Trump will target families or other undocumented immigrants who have lived and worked for many years in the US.
Such a policy is mainly popular among partisan lines, according to a new Scripps News/Ipsos poll, which found 52% of Americans saying they somewhat or strongly support the mass deportation of those in the country illegally. But that support drops when respondents are asked about different types of deportation programs: Only 38% of Americans say they’d support an operation that separated families, for instance. (Homan is, famously or infamously, a primary architect of the family separation policy that Trump embraced during his first administration.)
Lawmakers in blue states and cities have vowed to resist Trump’s mass deportations, whatever form they take. Several cities, including Boston and Los Angeles, prohibit local police from arresting individuals based solely on their immigration status or using city resources for immigration enforcement. On Friday, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said he was prepared to go to jail to stand up against Trump’s deportation policies—a challenge that Homan happily accepted on Fox News. “Me and the Denver mayor, we agree on one thing,” Homan said. “He’s willing to go to jail. I’m willing to put him in jail.”
