Geoff Bennett (00:00):
Welcome to the NewsHour. President-elect Donald Trump is quickly picking the people he wants to advise him when he enters the White House again in January. That includes who he has chosen to lead his mass deportation effort, a campaign promise he said he'd begin carrying out on day one.
Amna Nawaz (00:17):
On Sunday, Mr. Trump announced on Truth Social that Tom Homan will be what he called his border czar. Trump said the former acting ICE director would be, "In charge of our nation's borders and in charge of all deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin."
Geoff Bennett (00:34):
And the President-elect is also expected to formally name Stephen Miller as his Deputy Chief of Staff for policy in the coming days. Vice-President-elect JD Vance confirmed the selection on the social media site X. Miller worked as an adviser during Mr. Trump's first term and is known as an immigration hardliner.
Amna Nawaz (00:53):
Our White House correspondent, Laura Barrón-López, has been covering all of this and joins us now. So Laura, we know immigration has been a core part of Mr. Trump's message. What is he pledging to do as soon as he enters the White House?
Laura Barrón-López (01:05):
Donald Trump made a host of promises during the campaign, and so based on statements that he made while campaigning, as well as what I have heard from sources close to the Trump incoming administration, what we expect him to prioritize are a number of things, including mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, restarting border wall construction, invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, and directing more money and agents to the border. A note on that Alien Enemies Act, Amna, it's only been invoked during times of war, notably when the US carried out Japanese internment, and it would be used to rapidly deport alleged gang members without due process. It's going to likely be met with immediate lawsuits. Another thing I'm told Donald Trump will prioritize is a reconciliation package with Congress to allocate more money for this deportation effort and to add thousands of agents to the border.
Amna Nawaz (02:00):
And who would be carrying out that kind of effort when you talk about mass deportations?
Laura Barrón-López (02:05):
Tom Homan, who you just mentioned, Amna, the former acting ICE director, will lead this effort, and Homan was recently asked what that mass deportation effort would look like by CBS' 60 Minutes.
Amna Nawaz (02:19):
Is there a way to carry out mass deportation without separating families?
Tom Homan (02:24):
Of course, there is. Families can be deported together. Could their parent obviously entered the country illegally, had a child knowing he was in the country illegally, so he created that crisis.
Laura Barrón-López (02:38):
Homan was a supporter of the first term effort to separate families, that zero tolerance policy at the border, Amna, which ended up separating some 5,500 families. He was also a contributor to Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. And Homan is expected to work alongside Stephen Miller, who as we just said is expected to be named the Deputy Chief of Staff for policy. And Miller is going to also be overseeing immigration policy. He was known as one of the architects of that family's separation agenda during Trump's first term, and he is someone who supports very harsh immigration policy, recently saying at the Madison Square Garden rally that, "America is for America and Americans only."
(03:24)
And sources close to Trump World told me that Homan and Stephen Miller approach things a little bit differently. Homan is seen more as a cop, someone who very much wants to enforce the law and is less ideological than Stephen Miller, whose anti-immigrant positions are based on culture and identity. Now, when it comes to who may be the Secretary for the Homeland Security Department, Amna, sources close to the transition told me that Chad Wolf is a top contender. He served as acting director of Homeland Security during the first Trump administration, but other names in the mix include Ken Cuccinelli, as well as potentially Vivek Ramaswamy.
Amna Nawaz (04:04):
And Laura, when it comes to mass deportations, is that something President-elect Trump can do on day one, as he has pledged to do, and is a mass deportation effort even possible?
Laura Barrón-López (04:15):
As one source close to the transition told me, Amna, the planning is starting now, so that way implementation can happen on day one. Now, according to current estimates, there are roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country, and Donald Trump and JD Vance both had previously talked about deporting anywhere from 1 million to 11 million undocumented immigrants. Most recently, Tom Homan and other Trump allies have said that their first priority for those deportations would be those who pose public safety threats and national security threats. But John Sandweg, who is a former director of ICE, acting director of ICE, said that if Trump goes through with those deportations of one million or more immigrants, it will reach far beyond just those who pose public safety threats.
John Sandweg (05:04):
I'm grateful that the administration says we want to focus first on public safety cases, but the bottom line is you can't deport a million people in a year, and you certainly cannot deport 11 million people without getting into these really tough cases, these cases where someone has been here a long time, has never been convicted of any criminal offense, has a US citizen, oftentimes a minor child who's a US citizen, and now you're saying, "Hey, we're going to take you into custody to remove you from the country," and putting these families in these incredibly difficult positions.
Laura Barrón-López (05:32):
So again, Amna, the big question is beyond deporting people who pose public safety threats, beyond deporting undocumented migrants who have committed violent or property crimes, who exactly is Trump going to target? Is it going to also include people whose visas have expired? A former DHS official told me that Trump and Tom Homan may target employers who have large undocumented migrant workers, so that could result in conducting raids. Of course, logistics are a big question here, Amna. It's going to require more agents, more transportation, more detention beds, and a lot of more money.
Amna Nawaz (06:08):
Laura, put this in context for us. Have we ever seen anything like this before?
Laura Barrón-López (06:13):
No, nothing that would be at this scale. If Donald Trump, if the President-elect is able to carry out something that would be deportations of 1 million or more undocumented migrants. And the big picture overall, Amna, is that people view Donald Trump's goals as one that would make it harder, not just for people to migrate here illegally, but also legal migration will be restricted severely under this administration. And there were a few other areas that I want to point out, Amna. One is that multiple former DHS officials and sources close to Trump World so that the administration may target states by blocking FEMA funding or funding for local law enforcement if those states are ones that provide driver's licenses to undocumented migrants. Other things that are on the table are ending birthright citizenship.
Amna Nawaz (07:02):
Before we let you go, Mr. Trump has named a few more people to serve in his administration. Who do we know?
Laura Barrón-López (07:07):
Today, the President-elect announced that he's going to be appointing former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin to lead the EPA and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York to be the US Ambassador to the United Nations.
Amna Nawaz (07:21):
And we expect more names in the coming days. Laura Barrón-López, thank you so much.
Laura Barrón-López (07:25):
Thank you.