President-elect Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, says he is pitching the "fresh idea" of a hotline for people to report immigrants they believe are here illegally and have committed crimes. “I want a place where American citizens can call and report,” said Homan, the former head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, (ICE). Actually, ICE has had a tip line for more than 20 years that takes in15,000 calls a month, NBC says. ICE invites tips on illegal immigration along with a range of other legal violations such as drug smuggling and document fraud. "It is for reporting crimes, everything from child pornography, COVID-19 fraud, illegal immigration, human trafficking, money laundering, terrorism, worksite enforcement of immigration laws," said Alex Nowrasteh of the libertarian think tank Cato Institute. "It already exists. I don't know what Homan was talking about in terms of having a fresh, new idea."
Nowrasteh said the tip line likely isn't a major part of immigration enforcement. "It probably wastes the time of a handful of employees at ICE to have to wade through these 15,000 calls a month and to take them and to write them down. Perhaps it leads to a few tips," Nowrasteh said. "But I have never heard of anything publicly that has come up related to a big operation started by a tip on the ICE hotline." Some analysts say that having a tip line focused more specifically on illegal immigration would be helpful at raising public awareness. "It seems like not only is it worth a try, but it's also an important message to send. Part of the point of it is to make it clear to illegal aliens that they're not untouchable, that the party's over," said Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for reduced immigration. "It's useful, if nothing else, to send a message, both to the public and to illegal immigrants, that just because you're here and not raping anybody doesn't mean that you're untouchable. I think that's an important message to send even if they only get a handful of actual usable leads."