U.S. immigration authorities will once more put families with children in detention centers when President-elect Donald Trump returns to office next month, according to incoming White House “border czar” Tom Homan.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will look to hold parents with children in “soft-sided” tent structures similar to those used by U.S. border officials to handle immigration surges, Homan said. The government will not hesitate to deport parents who are in the country illegally, even if they have young U.S.-born children, he added, leaving it to those families to decide whether to exit together or be split up.
“Here’s the issue,” Homan said in a wide-ranging interview that included some of his most extensive comments to date on Trump’s plans for mass deportations. “You knew you were in the country illegally and chose to have a child. So you put your family in that position.”
President Joe Biden ended family detention in 2021, closing three facilities ICE called “residential centers” that offered about 3,000 beds. The facilities had a dorm-like design with recreational and educational programming. They were criticized by immigration advocates and pediatricians who said detention was harmful for children.
The federal judge who oversees immigration detention programs involving minors has set 20 days as the maximum amount of time children can be held at the family facilities. The deportation process often requires more time, so ICE has generally preferred to prioritize easier-to-remove adults. But Homan said that may change once Trump takes office.
“We’re going to need to construct family facilities,” he said. “How many beds we’re going to need will depend on what the data says.”
Homan will not be directing ICE operations as part of his White House role. But he will work closely on border and immigration issues with Kristi L. Noem, now governor of South Dakota and Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE.
As acting director of ICE during Trump’s first term, Homan drove the “zero tolerance” policy that separated more than 4,000 children from their parents soon after they crossed the border into the United States. He said Trump’s new enforcement campaign will seek to deport families together. But he acknowledged the government cannot remove children who are U.S. citizens, leaving it to parents to decide whether they would split up the family.
After retiring from ICE in 2018, Homan became a regular guest on Fox News, advocating the kind of unsentimental, unapologetic approach to immigration enforcement that seems to appeal to Trump. But of all the border hard-liners in the incoming administration, Homan is perhaps the most cognizant of the limits of the government’s ability to deliver on promises of mass deportation — and the potential for a political backlash. During a 34-year career at the U.S. Border Patrol and ICE, he saw wide swings in public support for immigration enforcement.
You are what you read. Reveal your 2024 reader type with Newsprint.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will look to hold parents with children in “soft-sided” tent structures similar to those used by U.S. border officials to handle immigration surges, Homan said. The government will not hesitate to deport parents who are in the country illegally, even if they have young U.S.-born children, he added, leaving it to those families to decide whether to exit together or be split up.
“Here’s the issue,” Homan said in a wide-ranging interview that included some of his most extensive comments to date on Trump’s plans for mass deportations. “You knew you were in the country illegally and chose to have a child. So you put your family in that position.”
President Joe Biden ended family detention in 2021, closing three facilities ICE called “residential centers” that offered about 3,000 beds. The facilities had a dorm-like design with recreational and educational programming. They were criticized by immigration advocates and pediatricians who said detention was harmful for children.
The federal judge who oversees immigration detention programs involving minors has set 20 days as the maximum amount of time children can be held at the family facilities. The deportation process often requires more time, so ICE has generally preferred to prioritize easier-to-remove adults. But Homan said that may change once Trump takes office.
“We’re going to need to construct family facilities,” he said. “How many beds we’re going to need will depend on what the data says.”
Homan will not be directing ICE operations as part of his White House role. But he will work closely on border and immigration issues with Kristi L. Noem, now governor of South Dakota and Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE.
As acting director of ICE during Trump’s first term, Homan drove the “zero tolerance” policy that separated more than 4,000 children from their parents soon after they crossed the border into the United States. He said Trump’s new enforcement campaign will seek to deport families together. But he acknowledged the government cannot remove children who are U.S. citizens, leaving it to parents to decide whether they would split up the family.
After retiring from ICE in 2018, Homan became a regular guest on Fox News, advocating the kind of unsentimental, unapologetic approach to immigration enforcement that seems to appeal to Trump. But of all the border hard-liners in the incoming administration, Homan is perhaps the most cognizant of the limits of the government’s ability to deliver on promises of mass deportation — and the potential for a political backlash. During a 34-year career at the U.S. Border Patrol and ICE, he saw wide swings in public support for immigration enforcement.
