A battle between sanctuary cities and states and the incoming border czar will soon be underway. Homan will win.
The most qualified person of all Trump’s picks is border Czar Tom Homan.
Homan started out as an ICE agent who worked his way up the ranks to become an ICE director. He understands the mission and the bureaucracy.
Wikipedia notes “In 2015, President Obama gave him a Presidential Rank Award as a Distinguished Executive. A Washington Post article at the time stated, Thomas Homan deports people. And he’s really good at it.”
His qualifications are impeccable, both as an ICE agent and a manager overseeing ICE. You might disagree with the mission, but no one can honestly suggest he is unqualified.
Charlie Kirk has an excellent interview of Homan.
Charlie Kirk Interview
Homan: We need to be transparent. We need to have a briefing and tell the American people exactly what we are doing. We said we are going to concentrate on public safety and national security threats. We need to have constant communication. That’s how we keep the support of the American people. The Left, the far Left, the woke, I don’t care what they think about me. They can’t cancel if you don’t care.
Kirk: I want your reaction to this clip [of Illinois governor JB Pritzker].
Pritzker: Anyone wo intends to come take away the freedom and opportunity and dignity of Illinoisians, I would remind you that a happy warrior is still a warrior. If you come for my people, you come through me.
Homan: Game on. We’ve got no problem going through him. I’ve got 20,000 men and women at ICE who are going to do their job with no apology. … The day Donald Trump takes office, we are in a go mode. If any governor wants to stand in the way, go ahead and do it, and we’ll see what happens. I am not going to be intimidated and ICE will not be intimidated. We are going to do our job.
Kirk: [Asks a question about day one]
Homan: We are going to end catch and release. We are going to file lawsuits against sanctuary cities. We are going to reprioritize ICE priorities.
Mish Comments
Homan understands the mission and honestly believes in it. Importantly, he has the bureaucratic experience to pull it off.
Homan discussed priorities and a way to get ICE officials out of administrative rolls and on to the streets.
It’s a 19 minute interview and I transcribed only a tiny piece of it. I recommend playing it all.
I seriously do not understand governors and mayors willing to aid rapists, drug dealers, and gang leaders, etc.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston Backtracks
9News reports Denver Mayor Mike Johnston backtracks comments about sending Denver Police officers to block Trump deportation efforts
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said he will encourage people to protest President-elect Trump’s planned deportations in Colorado and is willing to go to jail to stop efforts made by the future president that he believes are illegal or wrong.
Johnston is also walking back his comments this week made to Denverite about sending Denver Police officers to the county line to stop federal forces from coming in.
“More than us having DPD stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there,” Johnston told Denverite. “It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right? You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them.”
In an interview with 9NEWS on Friday, Johnston walked those claims back.
“Would I have taken it back if I could? Yes, I probably wouldn’t have used that image,” Johnston said. “That’s the image I hope we can avoid. What I was trying to say is this is an outcome I hope we can avoid in this country. I think none of us want that.”
In cases where Johnston believes the future commander-in-chief is wrong or performing something that is illegal, the mayor says he is willing to go to jail to stand up against it.
“Trump’s new border czar, Tom Homan, has said that he is willing to arrest leaders like yourself for standing in the way of these policies that they want to enact. Would you be willing to go to jail for these things?” Sallinger asked.
“Yeah, I’m not afraid of that, and I’m also not seeking that,” Johnston said. “I think the goal is we want to be able to negotiate with reasonable people how to solve hard problems.“
Reasonable People
For starters, how about handing over all the Venezuelan thugs, drug dealers, and gang members as well as anyone with a criminal warrant or arrested in jail.
Every sensible person in Denver would cheer.
Trump’s Mass Deportation Promise
Let’s discuss the WSJ article Trump’s Mass Deportation Promise. My comments are in square brackets. Emphasis also mine.
Donald Trump won a second term in the White House by pledging to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, and that includes sending a clear deterrent message to migrants before he’s sworn in again on Jan. 20. Last week a caravan of about 3,000 people set out toward the U.S. from near the Guatemala border, according to Reuters, but many of them dispersed after Mr. Trump’s victory. [And that’s a major victory for Trump right off the bat]
Mr. Trump announced late Sunday that Tom Homan, his former acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has agreed to be his new border czar. Mr. Homan will be “in charge of our Nation’s Borders,” plus “all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. Media leaks Monday said Stephen Miller, who advised Mr. Trump on immigration policy in the first term, is likely to be White House deputy chief of staff for policy.
In short order, Mr. Trump will move to reinstate the border policies of his first term, such as Remain in Mexico, which seemed to work. Under that deal, migrants claiming asylum in the U.S. were sent back to Mexico while their cases were pending, which might take months or more. The idea was to break the incentives to game the system. Given the backlog of asylum cases, letting migrants into the U.S. while they wait is an enticement to come. [Another victory]
The political rub may be Mr. Trump’s campaign promise to conduct “the largest deportation operation in the history of our country.” How it goes depends on what Mr. Trump means. Speaking Monday on Fox News, Mr. Homan said the priority will be “public-safety threats and national-security threats,” as well as migrants who “had due process” and “their federal judge said ‘you must go home,’ and they didn’t.” [Again no disagreement]
And add what Mr. Homan told “60 Minutes” last month. “It’s not going to be a mass sweep of neighborhoods,” he said. “It’s not going to be building concentration camps. I’ve read it all. It’s ridiculous.” [Bingo! a mass sweep is not the right idea]
Instead he said Mr. Trump’s plan would involve “targeted arrests,” and eventually “worksite enforcement operations.” If officers making an arrest also find an undocumented grandma in the house, will they detain her? “It depends,” Mr. Homan said. “Let the judge decide.” [I 100% endorse targeted arrests. As for workforce arrests, I think we need to discuss. If someone has been here a while, with a job, and are productive members of society, it would be idiotic to send them home unless the goal is more inflation and workforce shortages]
When he visited the Journal recently, we asked about aliens who have been here for years, who might have U.S. citizen spouses and children. His response was that he wanted to help them.
“We have a lot of good people in this country, and we have to do something about it,” Mr. Trump said. “This has been going on for a long time. It’s a complicated subject.” He declined to specify whom he’d deport: “I don’t want to go too much into clarification, because the nicer I become, the more people that come over illegally.” Yet after stringent talk about deterrence, he ended with nuance: “There are some human questions that get in the way of being perfect, and we have to have the heart, too.” [This is a more pragmatic, rational Trump, and I hope we see more of this.]
Even as Mr. Biden’s failures turned the public against immigration, Gallup this summer said 81% of Americans want a path to citizenship for those “brought to the U.S. illegally as children.” That included 64% of Republicans. [I side with the majority]
[The WSJ concludes, and I agree] Mr. Trump can do much on immigration by executive action, but a durable solution needs legislation. Maybe Democrats, after the electoral haymaker they got last week, will be willing to compromise more than they have in the past. Mr. Trump missed a chance for a bipartisan deal in 2018 to permanently change the border incentives on asylum and more. He’ll have a narrow window again next year, if he’s willing and has the heart.
The New Home for Hispanics is the Republican Party
On November 7, I reported The New Home for Hispanics is the Republican Party
Please click on the above link and play the PBS video interview of Republican Florida rep. Maria Salazar on Hispanics, Trump, and deportations.
She is author of the The Dignity Act
Here’s The Dignity Act Bill Summary
Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Florida) introduced the Dignity Act (H.R. 3599) in the U.S. House of Representatives on May 23, 2023, a bipartisan effort to strengthen border security in the United States, provide undocumented individuals with an opportunity to obtain legal status if they meet certain requirements, and update aspects of the U.S. legal immigration system. Additional co-sponsors include Reps. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Oregon), Mike Lawler (R-New York), and Jennifer Gonzalez-Colon (R-Puerto Rico).
This bipartisan effort comes as new polling indicates that more than 4 in 5 Americans – including 80 percent of Republican registered voters – support Republicans and Democrats working together on immigration reforms that address labor shortages and inflation, and protect people already in the U.S. and contributing to their communities. During the rollout of the legislation, Rep. Salazar indicated that the bill is intended to follow the biblical principles of Dignity and Redemption. The bill also aims to focus on modernizing America’s immigration system to meet the country’s economic needs and to do so in a manner that supports American workers. The bill’s title stands for ‘‘Dignity for Immigrants while Guarding our Nation to Ignite and Deliver the American Dream Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘DIGNIDAD (Dignity) Act of 2023.’’
The bill requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to deploy physical barriers, tactical infrastructure, technology, and personnel along the border where it is most effective. Specifically, it authorizes at least $35 billion in funding to enhance and improve infrastructure and technology between and at ports of entry. It also reforms the U.S. asylum system to make a final determination of asylum eligibility for most asylum seekers at the border within 60 days.
- Initial Screening (First 15 Days). Under the bill, migrants would receive a 72-hour rest period. After that, HC staff would provide an initial screening within 15 days. Staff will conduct criminal background checks, analyze biometric data, verify identification, conduct medical assessments, screen for human trafficking victims, and perform an initial credible fear interview.
- Migrants unable to establish a credible fear during an initial screening are subject to expedited removal from the U.S.
The bill incorporates a version of the Dream Act, which allows young undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and have lived in the U.S. for most of their lives to obtain legal status. This section could allow up to 1.9 million Dreamers, including the roughly 600,000 DACA recipients, to live and work in the U.S.
I endorse the Dignity Act. It is exceptionally balanced, well thought out, and bipartisan. But it’s not what Trump promised.
Fortunately, it’s how Trump sounded in the WSJ interview.
CBS News Poll Show 57 Percent Approval to Deport All Illegal Immigrants
Yesterday, I noted CBS News Poll Show 57 Percent Approval to Deport All Illegal Immigrants
I suggest we shut down the border, return to stay in Mexico, arrest and deport the criminals, institute a reasonable immigration policy, and give amnesty to hard-working immigrants who have been here a long time.
It would be very costly and damaging economically to try to deport 15 million people, even 7 million people.
Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Florida) has the right idea with the Dignity Act.
Addendum – Defining Win
At the outset I never defined “win”. I meant seal the border, remain in Mexico, and deport high priority targets.
I expect Homan to go after high priority targets first and if he succeeds at that, we have a win. Then Trump will brag about winning and then the vast majority of his supporters will believe it.
By win, I did not mean deporting 15 million or even 7 million illegal immigrants. If that’s your definition, there won’t be a win.