Trump’s border chief changes stance on mass deportations in Democratic cities.

Tom Homan, the handpicked ‘border czar’ by President-elect Donald Trump, has expressed that the administration is revisiting the prospect of immigration raids in Chicago and New York following the disclosure of details in news reports.

As the former acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homan informed the Washington Post that the new administration has yet to finalize its decision.

Homan mentioned, ‘We are examining this leak and will determine our course of action based on this unauthorized disclosure. This situation is regrettable because revealing law enforcement operations jeopardizes the safety of officers.’

ICE had its sights on the Democratic-run city of Chicago and NYC as its first targets for mass deportations, with a raid expected on Tuesday morning less than 24 hours after Trump’s second inauguration. 

It was reported that the operation would be carried out for an entire week and spend between 100-200 officers to handle the job.

News of the raids leaked after Chicago City Council rejected an effort to allow police to cooperate with immigration enforcement. 

‘We intend to stand by and protect Chicago’s immigrant communities against threats from ICE,’ Mayor Brandon Johnson said after the vote. 

Homan then appeared on Fox News where he was asked by host Jesse Watters if he was ‘blowing your cover’ by asking about the ‘big raid’ in Chicago. 

President-elect Donald Trump’s handpicked ‘border czar’ Tom Homan has said the administration is reconsidering immigration raids on Chicago and New York City after details were leaked in news reports

ICE had its sights on the Democratic-run city of Chicago and New York as its first targets for mass deportations, with a raid expected on Tuesday morning less than 24 hours after President-elect Donald Trump’s second inauguration

‘We’re looking at this leak and will make a decision based on this leak,’ Homan said. ‘It’s unfortunate because anyone leaking law enforcement operations puts officers at great risk’

‘Or do you want people to know? Maybe they can self-deport,’ Watters said. 

‘There’s going to be a big raid all across the country. Chicago is just one of many places,’ Homan said. ‘ICE is finally going to do their job. We’re going to take the handcuffs off of ICE and let them go arrest criminal aliens. That’s what’s going to happen.’  

Homan told the Post he didn’t know why Chicago ‘became a focus of attention’ and said the incoming administration’s enforcement goals are much broader than one city. 

‘ICE will start arresting public safety threats and national security threats on day one. We’ll be arresting people across the country, uninhibited by any prior administration guidelines. Why Chicago was specifically mentioned, I don’t know,’ he said. 

‘This is a nationwide thing. We’re not sweeping neighborhoods. We have a targeted enforcement plan.’ 

According to a person with knowledge of the plans, multi-day raids are expected from coast-to-coast. 

‘We’re going to be doing operations all across the country,’ the person told Reuters on Friday. ‘You’re going to see arrests in New York. You’re going to see arrests in Miami.’ 

Homan previously told a crowd at the Northwest Side GOP holiday party that ‘Chicago is in trouble because your mayor sucks and your governor sucks.’ 

‘We intend to stand by and protect Chicago’s immigrant communities against threats from ICE,’ Mayor Brandon Johnson said

‘However, we’re going to enforce the law. So, if you put yourself in that position, it’s on you. You can either take a child home with you or they just stay there, but you don’t get a pass,’ Homan said declaring that parents of Dreamers – the children of migrants born in the US – have two options

He went on to call them both ‘terrible,’ while also urging them to follow in the footsteps of New York City Mayor Eric Adams and ‘come to the table’ for discussions, according to the Chicago Sun Times. 

Homan also warned Johnson, who had vowed to fight the Trump administration’s deportation plan, not to ‘impede’ his efforts. 

‘If he doesn’t want to help, get the hell out of the way. If he knowingly harbors or conceals an illegal alien – I will prosecute him,’ he said.  

Homan said he would work on verifying the status of asylum seekers and arrest anyone who is found to be harboring criminal migrants. 

He reiterated that there is no plan in place to separate families, though he suggested ‘it may happen.’ 

‘My goal is to enforce the law, but if you put yourself in that position, it may happen,’ he said. ‘But there’s no plan in this administration right now to separate families.’ 

‘However, we’re going to enforce the law. So, if you put yourself in that position, it’s on you. You can either take a child home with you or they just stay there, but you don’t get a pass,’ he said declaring that parents of Dreamers – the children of migrants born in the US – have two options.  

Homan and other Trump aides have said they hope immigrants living in the United States illegally leave on their own, or ‘self-deport’, from fears of facing arrest. 

 Homan had previously criticized against advertising immigration raids ahead of time under Trump’s 2018 administration. He called the Oakland, California mayor ‘reckless’ and ‘irresponsible’ for alerting city residents to a planned raid. 

Chicago had seen more than 50,000 migrants flock to the Windy City since August 2022

He noted then that after the report leaked, ICE made 150 arrests but were missing 864 fugitives. 

Acting director for ICE during the Obama administration, John Sandweg, said he was surprised to see discussion of the raids ahead of time. 

‘Historically this is something we kept very close wraps on for officer safety reasons,’ he said, adding that fugitives ‘start hiding. It completely undermines the effectiveness of the operation by telegraphing that you’re coming.’ 

He added that it is also unusual for ICE to begin planning raids before the new leadership is sworn in, official policies remain under Biden’s control who was focused on more serious offenders than those who are solely undocumented. 

‘It’s incredibly unusual. This isn’t like policymaking or briefings, the normal stuff you see in transition,’ Sandweg said. ‘This is an actual operational planning for an operation to take place on the first day of an administration. That’s weird.’ 

Advocates in Chicago said rumors of raids began circulating on social media on Wednesday, the Post reported. One WhatsApp group warned that a ‘trusted source’ had confirmed ICE would be patrolling the city from 5am to 9am on Inauguration Day and the next day would ‘detain people heading to work or home.’ 

The Vice President of Immigration Justice for the Resurrection Project, Eréndira Rendón, said: ‘We anticipated Chicago would be a target, but the message is the same: You should be as prepared as possible.’