[President-elect Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan has privately told Republican lawmakers to temper their expectations for the incoming administration’s initial deportation operation, citing limited resources, according to multiple sources involved in the conversations.
While Trump’s allies have floated measures to detain and deport people residing in the US illegally, the plans largely depend on the resources and funds available to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which historically has had budget shortfalls.
Homan has outlined a tiered approach to Trump’s mass deportation pledge, targeting between 1 and 2 million undocumented immigrants who are eligible for removal as quickly as possible, according to multiple sources in the discussions. However, Homan has stressed that he needs a minimum of 100,000 beds to detain undocumented immigrants, more than doubling the 40,000 detention beds ICE is currently funded for, and would require more ICE agents.
The discussions are part of a broader level-setting that is occurring among House Republicans, who are now coming to terms with the challenges of turning one of their key campaign promises into a reality. Republicans are also grappling with the harsh realization that most of their border overhaul measures are unlikely to be included in Trump’s massive agenda bill, given the strict rules around the reconciliation process that require proposals to either increase revenue or reduce spending, not change policy.
Trump has vowed to launch the largest deportation operation in history, telling Time Magazine in December he believes there will be “probably 15 and maybe as many as 20 million” undocumented immigrants in the US by the time he takes office. However, Homan has privately told lawmakers that the plan is not to deport 20 million people, but rather to focus on a priority and expectation.
Despite the challenges ahead, Republicans know they have to start somewhere, and argue that once the deportations under Trump start, there is a serious likelihood that undocumented immigrants will self-deport. There is also an acknowledgment that Trump’s expected executive orders will do a lot to get the process of addressing deportations, closing down the border and overhauling the immigration system started.
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