President-elect Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan has revealed that the nation’s largest mass deportation effort will begin in Chicago.
Homan, 63, who served as the former acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Trump’s initial term, has revealed his strategy to remove migrants who have illegally crossed the southern border.
‘Chicago is facing difficulties due to ineffective leadership from its mayor and governor,’ Homan expressed to the audience at the Northwest Side GOP holiday party. Among the attendees were Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
He proceeded to criticize both Pritzker and Johnson, labeling them as ‘terrible,’ while emphasizing the importance of emulating New York City Mayor Eric Adams by engaging in constructive dialogues, as reported by 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,’ Homan said.Â
‘If he knowingly harbors or conceals an illegal alien – I will prosecute him.’
Homan went on to explain what Trump’s deportation efforts entail.
Incoming border czar Tom Homan has revealed that the nation’s largest mass deportation effort will begin in Chicago
He hit out at Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (left) and Mayor Brandon Johnson (right) for their refusal to help the Trump administration in its deportation effort
Migrants who have committed crimes while in the United States will be the first to be targeted – followed by legal migrants, including asylum seekers and those who entered the US with humanitarian parole under the Biden Administration.Â
Homan said on Monday he would work on verifying the status of asylum seekers and arrest anyone who is found to be harboring criminal migrants.
He also reiterated that there is no plan in place to separate families, though he suggested ‘it may happen.Â
‘My goal is to enforce the law, but if you put yourself in that position, it may happen,’ the incoming border czar 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,’ he said, declaring that parents of Dreamers – the children of migrants born in the United States – have two options.
‘You can either take a child home with your or they just stay here,’ Homan said. ‘But you don’t get a pass.’
He also said those who do not qualify for asylum through the courts system would be ordered to be deported.
‘If we don’t, what the hell are we doing? Shut down immigration court?’ he asked, rhetorically.
‘There’s no more consequences. We have to remove them if the law requires.’Â
Chicago had seen more than 50,000 migrants flock to the Windy City since August 2022
Homan then criticized media coverage of Trump’s deportation plan and denied that it was racist.
‘We know exactly who we’re going to arrest,’ he claimed. ‘We know most likely where we’re going to find them. We know a lot about them because of investigative case files.
‘So it’s not a sweep, it’s not an uncontrolled operation. It’s a very targeted operation.’
Chicago had seen more than 50,000 migrants flock to the Windy City since August 2022, and following Trump’s election last month, Mayor Johnson defended the city’s sanctuary status – as he declared that he would not allow cops to help federal ICE agents.
‘Our values will remain strong and firm,’ he said.Â
‘We will face likely hurdles in our work over the next four years, but we will not be stopped and we will not go back.’
Mayor Johnson has defended the city’s sanctuary status – as he declared that he would not allow cops to help federal ICE agents
Meanwhile, Governor Pritzker is in discussions with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office to explore what legal resources or staff they will need to challenge Trump’s policies – including his plan to withhold federal grants for police.
He had called any such recourse ‘illegal’ and vowed to take legal action.
‘To anyone who intends to come take away the freedom and opportunity and dignity of Illinoisans, I would remind you that a happy warrior is still a warrior,’ he said following Trump’s electoral victory.
‘You come for my people. You come through me.’
But following Homan’s remarks on Monday, Pritzker took a less combative approach.
‘It’s no secret that Illinois will face countless, baseless attacks over the next four years from the Trump administration,’ spokesman Alex Gough said.Â
‘Rather than responding to every ridiculous boast from Trump lackeys, Gov. Pritzker is focused on what he was focused on during the first Trump term: leading our state with competence instead of chaos.’
US Rep. Delia Ramirez, a Democrat from Chicago, however, was even more firm
‘Tom Homan, the next time you come to #IL03 – a district made stronger and more powerful by immigrants – you better be ready to meet the resistance,’ she wrote on social media.
