Former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan dismissed concerns of separating families through mass deportations, suggesting they can be “deported together.”
Former President Donald Trump, as part of his campaign platform, said if elected, massive deportations of illegal immigrants would take place. Earlier this year, during his Republican National Convention speech, Homan echoed the message that people who unlawfully entered the country “better start packing.” While previewing Trump’s plan for these deportations, Homan was asked if it was possible for illegal immigrants to be deported without also getting separated from their families.
“Of course there is. Families can be deported together,” Homan stated during an interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes.
Cecilia Vega asks: “Is there a way to carry out mass deportation without separating families?”
“Of course there is. Families can be deported together,” says Tom Homan, head of ICE during Trump’s family separation policy. https://t.co/If9G1sNEzj pic.twitter.com/TIWhi25Vdu
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 28, 2024
Homan prefaced his answer when he responded to an estimate that it would cost $88 billion to deport one million illegal immigrants per year. He argued he did not know if this estimate was accurate and asked the interviewer, “What price do you put on our national security?”
The former ICE director also pushed back on the assumption that mass deportations are racist and that the only people threatened by the government utilizing deportations should be “the illegal immigrant community.” He also condemned “ridiculous” claims these deportations would do a mass sweep of neighborhoods or utilize “concentration camps” and would instead use “targeted arrests.”
“I hear a lot of people say, ‘The talk of a mass deportation is racist. It’s threatening to the immigrant community,'” says Tom Homan, Trump’s former acting director of immigration enforcement. He argues it should only “be threatening to the illegal immigrant community.” pic.twitter.com/IsU7yrcxIb
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 27, 2024
“It’s not ok to enter a country illegally, which is a crime,” Homan said. “That’s what drives illegal immigration, when there’s no consequences. The Biden-Harris administration has proven this: you can get to the border, turn yourselves in, get released in 24 hours.”
Homan was then offered a hypothetical scenario in which law enforcement discovered an undocumented “grandma” in a house while enacting a targeted enforcement operation. When asked if this undocumented woman would also be deported, Homan argued it would be up to “the judge” to decide, adding that a second Trump presidency would deport people “that judge has already deported.”
Immigration enforcement actions at job sites will be “necessary” if Trump wins a second term, says Tom Homan, former director of ICE. https://t.co/Ipo5GSwqpA pic.twitter.com/wHLqb5irmD
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 27, 2024
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During Trump’s rally in Madison Square Garden on Sunday, the former president revealed he would utilize the Alien Enemies Act from 1798 to enact his mass deportation plans. Trump specifically mentioned “vicious” gangs such as Tren de Aragua and MS-13 as part of the groups he would target using this law.
The Alien Enemies Act was invoked three times: during the War of 1812 for British nationals, during World War I for German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Bulgarian nationals, and during World War II for German, Italian, and Japanese nationals. Congress could potentially amend this law to include foreign gangs or make other modifications to clear any legal hurdles that could arise if Trump and the Republican Party are victorious in the 2024 election.