Washington
CNN
—
Donald Trump’s team is finalizing a series of aggressive executive orders on immigration expected to be issued just hours after the president-elect is sworn in, kicking off an immigration crackdown which will have implications for the population nationally, according to two sources familiar with the discussions. .
This set of actions constitutes a sweeping change in immigration policy that will affect immigrants already residing in the United States and migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The plan calls for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in major metropolitan areas, sending more Pentagon resources to the U.S. southern border, imposing additional restrictions on those eligible to entering the United States, as well as reversing Biden-era policies.
“You will see removal planes, reports of arrests, ICE actions in sanctuary jurisdictions,” a source told CNN, referring to the new administration’s deportation plans. “As you get into the 30 days and the first 100 days, that’s where you’ll see a consistent drumbeat.”
Sources say the new administration will focus, at least initially, on undocumented immigrants with criminal histories who are eligible for deportation in major metropolitan areas, such as Washington, D.C., Denver and Chicago. But other people encountered during these operations could also be taken into police custody, according to a source.
Key players on Trump’s key agenda item include South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, whose confirmation hearing is scheduled for Friday, as secretary of homeland security, Tom Homan as czar of Border and Stephen Miller, new deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser.
“You can’t be a safe country until the border is protected and defended,” Miller said on Fox on Thursday, declaring that all relevant federal agencies “will be given the mission and mandate to interdict all contraband , to use all financial resources to strangle the cartels and end all illegal immigration into this country for reasons of national security.
Trump will inherit a relatively quiet U.S. southern border, but his team is preparing moves to step up efforts on border security and implement policies that would reform the U.S. immigration system.
The authorities Trump is expected to invoke when taking office are familiar and reminiscent of his first term, while other unprecedented actions remain under consideration. Trump’s team, for example, continues to evaluate several options for ending birthright citizenship and is examining the applicability of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
Initial actions include a national emergency declaration to send additional Pentagon resources to the U.S. southern border, the issuance of a proclamation suspending the entry of certain individuals to the U.S. southern border, and the implementation of a travel ban. Discussions are underway about who the travel ban would cover, according to a source, who said it is expected to mimic the previous iteration and be rooted in oversight issues.
The Trump team also plans to eliminate a humanitarian parole program designed to provide a legal path to the United States for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans – potentially placing hundreds of thousands of recently arrived migrants who are currently able to work and live temporarily. in the United States in limbo.
“The American people gave President Trump a mandate to end the invasion of illegal immigrants, secure the border, and expel the dangerous criminals and terrorists who make our communities less safe. He will keep his promises,” Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump-Vance transition, said in a statement.
This time, Trump officials are hyper-focused on domestic repression – emphasizing immigration raids in Democratic-run cities, according to multiple sources.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — the immigration enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security — has arrested and deported immigrants under the Biden administration. In the last fiscal year, the agency deported 271,484 immigrants, marking the highest level of deportations since 2014, according to federal data.
Multiple sources who spoke to CNN cautioned that plans to ramp up ICE operations will take time to execute and depend on additional funding from Congress.
One of the new administration’s key targets are so-called sanctuary cities. The term is widely applied to jurisdictions that have implemented policies designed to limit cooperation or participation in federal immigration enforcement actions. How these policies are enforced may vary.
Homan has repeatedly criticized these cities, arguing that they hinder ICE’s ability to stop threats against the community. Homan maintained that his priority remained threats to public safety and national security.
“I will send a whole group of agents into your community, and we will find the bad guy, and when we find the bad guy, he will probably be with others, others who are not a priority apprehension. But guess what? They too are arrested. So you will get exactly what you don’t want: more arrests in your communities,” Homan said last month.
There will also be a focus on jurisdictions that cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The 287G program, as it is called, allows ICE to partner with state and local law enforcement, serving as a tool to increase immigration enforcement in a given area.
“There is a concerted effort to conclude 287G agreements with a very large number of willing partners,” one of the sources said.
A key component of any immigrant deportation plan is detention space, which both Democratic and Republican administrations have struggled with due to limited resources.
In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Homan said he would need a minimum of 100,000 beds to detain undocumented immigrants — more than double the 40,000 detention beds ICE is currently funded for – and that he would need more ICE agents.
Several companies, including commercial real estate firms, have contacted lobbyists and former Homeland Security officials to express interest in getting involved in the detention, according to multiple sources.
One of the sources described the first days as “putting the structure in place to have a high and sustained level of evacuation operations.” However, the key to achieving this will be consolidating sufficient federal funds.
When Trump is sworn in next week, he will inherit a border with fewer crossings than when he left office — and he plans to use an authority recently invoked by President Joe Biden.
In December, the last full month of the Biden administration, the US Border Patrol recorded 47,300 migrant encounters, a slight increase from November but marking the lowest one-month daily average since July 2020.
Migrant crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border plummeted last year following Biden’s executive action cracking down on asylum. Homeland Security officials cited the action, which used an authority known as 212f, as contributing to the drop in crossings.
In 2018, Trump also attempted to use 212f, which gives the president broad authority to implement immigration restrictions to restrict border crossings. But ultimately, a federal appeals court ruled that this authority conflicted with the asylum law and that the 212f authority did not override it.
Trump should invoke this authority as he did in his first term, applying it to the southern border.
His first-day executive orders also include launching negotiations for the return of the program informally known as “Remain in Mexico,” which required migrants to remain in Mexico while they went through immigration procedures in the United States. .
His team is also preparing to launch negotiations to reimplement what were previously known as asylum cooperation agreements, sources said.
The agreements – initiated during Trump’s first term – marked a significant shift in US asylum policy, as migrants who might have legitimate asylum claims could be sent to other countries to assert their file.
