Tom Homan, who Donald Trump has tapped as his incoming administration’s “border czar,” said Wednesday night that plans are underway to deport undocumented immigrants at large scale and that he’ll need funding from Congress to do so, CNN reports. In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, he said he will need a minimum of 100,000 beds to detain undocumented immigrants – more than doubling the 40,000 detention beds ICE is currently funded for – and needs more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to carry out the president-elect’s mass deportation plans. “It all depends on the funding I get from the Hill,” Homan said on “The Source,” adding that he isn’t yet sure how much additional funding Trump’s administration will seek from the Republican-led House and Senate.
Homan said Trump’s administration will prioritize deporting criminals, gang members and fugitives. He would not specify how many undocumented immigrants he hopes to see deported by the end of Trump’s next four years in office. “I don’t have a number. We want to arrest as many people as we can that are in the country illegally,” Homan said. “If you’re here illegally, you’re not off the table. It’s a violation of the law; it’s a crime to enter this country illegally.” Homan said Trump’s deportation plans include removing undocumented parents whose children are United States citizens. What happens with those children, he said, is “the decision of the parents.” Homan also said the Trump administration would bring back mass worksite immigration raids – a potentially significant development for some industries that rely on undocumented immigrants’ labor. President Joe Biden had ended those raids, instead focusing on employers who exploit those workers.