President-elect Donald Trump announced new cabinet appointees for his return to the White House in January. Two of the most talked about are Stephen Miller and Tom Homan, who will lead immigration policy, one of the top five issues Americans voted on this election cycle.
Stephen Miller is the new deputy chief, and Tom Homan will serve as the border czar. Both are familiar faces who worked with Trump during his first term. Miller and Homan’s careers align closely with Trump’s vision for immigration, including mass deportations.
Miller was a senior adviser during Trump’s first term and has been a key figure in developing Trump’s policies. He advocated for family separation in migrant detention facilities and a travel ban that targets people from majority-Muslim countries.
“Decades of abuse have been heaped upon the good people of this nation, the lives of their loved ones ripped away from them by illegal aliens, criminal gangs and thugs who don’t belong in this country,” said Miller at Trump’s rally in Madison Square Garden during the final stretch of his presidential campaign.
Trump is expected to implement Miller’s strict enforcement policy, saying that the administration will deport more than 1 million undocumented immigrants per year, and told Fox News that he will start “as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, Tom Homan, the new border czar and former acting director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, will be a major player in Trump’s border policy.
During a “CBS 60 Minutes” interview, Homan was asked if there is a way to carry out mass deportation without separating families.
“Of course there is . . . families can be deported together,” said Homan. “Because their parents actually entered the country illegally . . . had a child knowing [they were] in the country illegally. So they created that crisis.”
“I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our borders,” said the president-elect on his social media platform, Truth Social, last Sunday. “Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin. Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic and long awaited job.”
Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union and contributor to the Immigrants’ Rights Project, said he is very concerned about this type of rhetoric.
“I am worried about how they’re going to go about it, whether they’re going to try and use the military, which is flatly illegal in our view, and who’s going to be caught up in it.”
Vice President-elect JD Vance has referred to those in programs already approved under both parties — such as Temporary Protected Status and Humanitarian Parole — as “illegal aliens.”
“We will stop all migrant flights, end all illegal entries, terminate the Kamala phone app for smuggling illegals, best known as CBP One app, revoke deportation immunity, suspend refugee resettlement, and return Kamala’s illegal migrants to their home countries,” he said in September, sparking fear among immigrants.
